Caught off guard and losing everything to the flood
In 2008, a shoal emerged in the heart of the Jamuna river, some 25 km away from Sariakandi upazila in Bogura.
Since 2009, some people, whose ancestors had lost their land to river erosion in the area, started to live on this shoal and established a village -- naming it Char Haatbaria.
Gradually a settlement of about 350 families developed in the shoal village. Another 45-50 families also settled in the northern part of the village after the river moved some three km away from the village about four years ago.
Ashraf Ali (50) was once a well-off farmer of Char Haatbaria village.
Only a couple of months earlier, Ashraf had cultivated chili on his 10 bigha of land on the shoal and eared Tk 300,000.
On June 29, Ashraf's younger daughter got married to his nephew from the neighbouring Manik Dair Char village. A few days before the wedding, on June 24, flood had hit Char Haatbaria village. Yet, Ashraf had to arrange the wedding since the date was set before and the groom's family did not want to delay further.
Of the money generated from his chili harvest, he spent Tk 2.5 lakh on his daughter's wedding, including Tk 50 thousand for jewelry and Tk 1.1 lakh as dowry for the groom.
However, since the village was inundated by floodwater, they had to arrange the wedding on boats, as their homestead was submerged. Ashraf was yet to know what awaited him only a few days later.
Since June 24, upstream water caused two flash floods in this area. On August 10, The Daily Star reported that the northern part of Char Haatbaria was devoured by the Jamuna and erased from the map.
"Last year there was a bigger flood but it lasted only a few days and caused no river erosion. As a result, we could save our farmland and home. This year, the scenario is completely different. We lost everything this time," said Shahjahan Ali (35), another erosion victim of village.
Shawkat Ali, chairman of the Chaluabari Union Parishad, said, "Char Haatbaria and four other shoals were lost to river erosion during the ongoing floods. Jamuna devoured farmlands, mosques, and homes in several villages, leaving around 950 char families displaced."
Ashraf Ali's family is one of those unfortunate ones. In the river erosion, Ashraf lost everything in just a matter of days.
Talking to The Daily Star, Ashraf said that their village started eroding a few days after his daughter's wedding.
"The river eroded away the land amid the flood and gradually came to our house after taking away all the cropland. All happened within a very short time, and many of the villagers could not shift their houses," Ashraf recalled.
"I have no money, cropland and house. There is not enough food for the family to survive this disaster. I go to the river with my three sons to catch fish every day, and if we get fish we sell it and buy rice for 11 family members. This is how I am earning my livelihood now, while waiting for relief," he said.
After all his land and home were lost to the river, Ashraf took shelter at the Chukainagar Ashrayan Prokalpa under Sonatala upazila with his family alongside other villagers.
"Why did you spend so much money in the wedding during such a severe flood?" Ashraf Ali's wife Shirina Begum asked him as she could barely hold back tears.
"How would I know that the flood would last so long and everything will go to the river?" a dejected Ashraf Ali said.
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