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When water started pouring into people’s homes
they had no other choice but to seek safe shelter.
They started running to the nearest big houses,
cyclone shelters and other places in search of
safety. They were again proved wrong when a
gigantic water-wall crashed down on Gabtola.
None of the big houses near the riverbank, within
about 100 metres, had survived despite being
inside the embankment. I had been to several
spots where many people had perished together
trapped inside large houses that collapsed.
Inside a cemented single storied primary school
26 people drowned when water surged over the
embankment and eventually flowed above the
school’s rooftop. People who could make their
way to cyclone shelters were apparently lucky.
Those that failed had spent the whole night
floating on the water by holding onto
tree branches.
The following morning people were surrounded
by tens of thousands of dead bodies of their
relatives and livestock along with the wreckage
of their homes, trees and boats. They had no
clothes other than the ones they had on, no food
and no money. Cyclone Sidr had stripped them of
everything. Salt water had contaminated drinking
water ponds. Crops and seeds, fishing boats
and nets were either destroyed or washed away.
The cyclone indiscriminately ruined every single
family at all of my field sites. The Southkhali
Union[1] has suffered from a 709 human death
toll, which is one-fifth of the official total for the
whole country. Gabtola, one of ten villages of
Southkhali Union, alone lost 381 people from
the disaster. There were no major human
casualties in Sonatola Model Village, another
one of my field sites in the same Union, far
inland and quite well protected by the
Sundarbans from the South and the West.
Although close to Gabtola, located in the middle
of Boleshwar River, Mazer Char had only four
human deaths. In fact, three adjacent villages
of the Southkhali Union, all in the same line
along the Boleshwar River – North Southkhali,
Gabtola and Bogi – accounted for more than
90 percent of the total human loss in the whole
Union. Human losses were mainly close to the
riverbank. Other than significant differences
in human death toll, all three sites experienced
loss of their homes, livestock, assets and so on.
When I went to visit my field sites two years after
the Cyclone Sidr disaster, Sidr’s terror was still
visible to everyone who survived that nightmare.
My research investigates how decisions
about relief in Bangladesh are made during
the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr. It reflects on
implemented housing schemes, particularly
in Gabtola, where I took the housing scheme
as a case study because it is the most visible
aid product provided by government and
NGOs which has not only changed the landscape,
but is also substantially important for explaining
different aspects of decisions governing relief aid.
‘Right to housing’ in Bangladesh
Right to housing is one of the five basic
human rights endorsed by the Constitution
of Bangladesh. The home happens to be
an assured commodity right protected by
state law to every household. However,
while distributing housing materials to the
affected community, this constitutional right
seems to have been forgotten. At Gabtola,
there were several dozen families living in
small flimsy huts on the government-owned
embankment that had lost their lands
due to natural causes or socioeconomic
problems. Despite their homes being
destroyed by Cyclone Sidr, they came under
the housing scheme only when they were
able to purchase a small piece of land
inside the embankment at a much higher
rate than the usual market price from the
land owners who were usually elites. These
homestead lands were purchased using
government aid money originally intended
for income generating activities. None of
the people in Sonatola Model Village have
received any housing benefit nor have 24
households at Mazer Char because they live
on disputed lands owned by government.
In both cases housing was not granted in
accordance with their constitutional rights.
Aid money, intended to rebuild devastated
communities has not only slipped into local
elites’ pockets, but has transferred outside
of local economies.
For example, the Gabtola community have
received housing from the government,
donated by Saudi Arabia. For a 10x15
square ft area and 9ft high house 41 tin
sheets and 8 concrete pillars were provided.
The government involved external vendors
to buy tin sheets and make concrete pillars.
A total of 62,875 Taka (approximately
£630) was allocated to build a house,
which includes a budget of 10,000 Taka
(£100) for developing an earthen plinth
and installing a house on it. From this
construction cost, 6,500 Taka was given
to the recipient of the house and the rest
went to labour hired from outside, though
labour force was available locally. Mo ɕ