‘We could only save our lives’

It was the night of June 28. Suddenly, Ajuba Begum  felt a tremor in the ground that sent shivers down her spine.

It could only mean one thing -- the Jamuna, which was at least half a kilometre away from her home in Haat Pachil village under Shahzadpur upazila of Sirajganj, has reached dangerously close.

Ajuba took a glance outside to only confirm the inevitable.

Panicked villagers scrambled for safety,  as the water devoured the land beside her home.

Inside, her family tried to salvage whatever they could from the approaching Jamuna. But it was too late.

Within minutes, water started breaching their residence. That is when Ajuba knew it was time. She took a deep breath, looked back at her home for one last time, and then ran for her life along with family members.

Within half an hour, the house went beneath the cold embrace of the river.

"Only a week ago, I was living happily with my family in our house. Now we are homeless," Ajuba said as she shared her story.

"We could only save our lives, nothing else," she said.

Ajuba is not alone. Jamuna devoured around 100 homesteads in the village as its erosion has turned severe, leaving around 200 people homeless.

The ongoing floods are only worsening the situation.

Both river erosion and floods are interconnected processes, and they can influence each other in various ways.

River erosion can change the shape and course of a river, reducing its capacity to carry water and leading to floods. Conversely, floods increase water flow and speed, intensifying erosion of riverbanks and riverbeds.

"The river has reached my house and eroded away a portion of it. Soon it will engulf the remaining as the erosion is only worsening over time," said Omar Ali of Haat Pachil village.

The victims blamed the Bangladesh Water Development Board for the situation.

"Jamuna's erosion isn't anything new, it has been continuing for years, but what did the authority do about it? Nothing," alleged Abed Ali of the village.

Md Najmul Hossain, BWDB's sub-divisional engineer, said a Tk 650 crore project to protect a six-kilometre stretch is underway and expected to be completed by next year.

The erosion and flooding have also affected Koijuri and Jalalpur union under Shahzadpur upazila.

Md Kamruzzaman, the upazila's UNO, said they have listed 78 victims and planned to rehabilitate them soon.