People’s life is sweltering in the scorching heat. In almost all parts of the country, including the capital Dhaka, the roads are almost empty during the day. Schools and colleges have already been declared temporarily closed.
Most public university classes are online. The requirement for lawyers to wear black gowns in court has been waived.
Hospitals have been put on high alert. According to a non-governmental organization, at least 34 people died across the country with symptoms of heat stroke in the five days from April 19 to April 23. The number is at least 10 more than the number of people who died with similar symptoms in the three months of April-June last year.
There is no news from the Meteorological Department. They issued a 72-hour heat alert on Monday. Its time has already expired.
Meteorologist Tariqul Newaz of Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that this heat may continue for a few more days. At least by the end of April.
The temperature record of Dhaka city has already exceeded the records of several decades. Elsewhere in the country, although the temperature has yet to break a record, the excess water vapor in the air makes the heat feel more intense than any other year. All in all, now a kind of disaster situation has been created with which the people of Bangladesh are not very familiar.
No one can give any special way to escape from this rude wrath of nature. A tree planting campaign has started on social media. Although there is a possibility of success in such an initiative in the long term, no one can give a solution that how people can survive immediately.
The global meteorological organization World Meteorological Organization in a report on Tuesday attributed the severity of heatwaves to climate change. According to the report, the countries of the Asian continent are warming faster than the global average. Calling the report’s conclusions alarming, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said 2023 saw many countries in the region experience their hottest year ever, with extremes ranging from droughts and heat waves to floods and storms.
He said, ‘Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of such events. Which is deeply affecting society, economy and most importantly human life and environment.
The report, which details how the effects of climate change and extreme weather are ravaging Asia, has a particularly sad statistic for Bangladesh.
According to the report, from 1970 to 2021, 984 thousand 263 people died in 3 thousand 612 disasters in Asia due to weather, climate and water and the economic loss caused by these disasters is 1.4 trillion dollars. More than half of these deaths occurred in Bangladesh.
According to the information given in this report, 5 lakh 20 thousand 758 people died in Bangladesh in the 50 years from 1970 to 2021 in the most 281 disasters in Asia. Not only ongoing heatwaves, but excluding volcanic eruptions and marine tsunamis, Bangladesh has had to deal with almost all kinds of natural disasters over the decades, even earthquakes.
Floods, cyclones, droughts are commonplace. Added to this in recent times are heavy rains, landslides, lightning, severe cold currents, intense heatwaves, abnormal temperature fluctuations.
According to one, at least 12 natural disasters occurred due to weather in Bangladesh in 2023. That is, an average of one disaster occurred every month.
There is only one hope, the loss of life in these disasters is much less than in the past. As an example, this global organization mentioned in their report the very strong cyclone ‘Mochar’. The strongest cyclone in the Bay of Bengal in a decade hit Bangladesh and Myanmar on May 14 last year, killing 156 people in both countries. A similar Cyclone Nargis, which hit nearby regions in 2008, killed 138,366 people.
Mahbooba Nasreen, professor of Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies of Dhaka University and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh Open University, credited global attention and government-private initiatives and capacity building of the government as the reasons for the reduction in casualties in disasters.
He said, ‘Since 2004-2005 when our disasters attracted international attention, we realized that nature is not everything. People have hands. From then we started preparing and the deaths started to come down, from five digits to three, two, single digits.’
However, the author, researcher Gauhar Naeem Wara, strongly opposes measuring the severity of natural disasters with this number of deaths. Apart from climate change, he mentioned the geographical location of Bangladesh as a reason for the continuous natural disasters in the country.
He said, ‘Even if there is no rain in our country, there may be floods. Because 93 percent of rivers originate in other countries.’
Apart from geographical factors, he considers the weakness of management as a reason for the loss.
He said, ‘We measure disaster with corpses, with dead bodies. So measuring disasters with dead bodies is an old method. Even if no one dies, the disaster can be big. A big accident if many people die. Minor accidents if no one dies. It is a matter of miscalculation. The more we discuss it, the more we get into trouble. I will not understand the disaster.’
The former teacher of Dhaka University thinks that the damage, the far-reaching effect of the damage should be the criterion for measuring the severity of a disaster. He cites ongoing heat waves as an example.
As of Wednesday, four people have died in this ongoing heat wave. But its damage is far-reaching.
He said, ‘Maybe after a few days it won’t be there, it will go away. The loss will not be taken into account as such. But there are people who are suffering in ways we don’t even think about. There are poultry farmers, there are small hatcheries, they will be destroyed like a lifetime.’
Many poultry farmers told reporters that this heat wave has caused a terrible disaster for them. Chickens are dying in many farms. Someone is forced to sell the chicken at a low price. Egg production is decreasing dramatically. Fish are dying as the water level drops due to the heat. Boro rice, mango and litchi production are also feared to be low. The economic cost of these losses is high. To the people of a part of the country, this ongoing heatwave has appeared with the horrors of floods and cyclones.
Almost no disaster experts support blaming nature alone for these disasters. They see the human role behind almost every disaster. From diverting rivers to incessant carbon emissions, unplanned urbanization with indiscriminate deforestation, many things are ruining nature.
Gohar Naeem Wara said, ‘People have a big hand behind all disasters. There is a difference between being hot and feeling hot. There are two types of temperature in two places in Dhaka city. Man made it.’
“I will not see my contribution, I will only blame Prakuti” – he strongly criticized such mentality.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Tags: deaths Asia due disasters Bangladesh
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