‘Every Year It Gets Worse’: On Frontline Of Climate Crisis In Bangladesh

"Young volunteers are leading rescue teams helping women and girls hardest hit by catastrophic flash floods in Sylhet".

"Ever since she was a little girl, Amina Ahmed has been afraid of the water. Growing up in Sylhet, north-east of Bangladesh, the heavy rainfall that typically occurs during monsoon season would make her anxious.

But this year’s flooding has been unlike anything she’s ever seen before. “Every year, it gets a little worse but I don’t think anyone expected anything this extreme,” Ahmed says.

Over the past few weeks, catastrophic flash floods – the worst in Bangladesh in a century – have inundated much of Sylhet, where rising waters have washed away whole towns, killing at least 68 people and leaving thousands displaced. According to the UN, an estimated 7.2 million people across seven districts have been affected.

Now 24, Ahmed, from Mirabazar, is a volunteer for the Bangladesh Red Crescent, where she is part of a team leading rescue and relief operations during the current crisis."

Thaslima Begum reports for the Guardian July 5, 2022.

Source: Guardian, 07/07/2022