Are we ready for the next flash floods?

Last year, six districts of the north-eastern part of the country got affected by flash floods resulting from heavy rainfall and sudden gush of water from Meghalaya and Assam. These floods caused huge losses to the farmers, with around 2.5 lakh hectares of land inundated. Generally, flash floods hit the greater Sylhet region in April each year, but in 2017 they came a month earlier, which indicates a rapid change in the climate. Sunamganj was the worst affected among the districts as 113,000 hectares of its land were submerged, according to a report published by The Daily Star on April 14, 2017.

Therefore, pro-active planning and necessary preparedness are inevitable to reduce the loss. Introducing crop insurance and different social safety net programmes, increasing market opportunities by strengthening supply-chain management system, and improving early warning system could be some effective steps to reduce the loss and damage caused by flash floods.

SM Saify Iqbal, Dhaka