Life and livelihood within a breached polder
Many people in the coastal districts of Bangladesh live in polders - a name borrowed from the Dutch which refers to low-lying land surrounded by mud walls. These polders were created in the 1960s with a view to protecting agricultural land from saline water intrusion. There are 139 polders in Bangladesh at present, with 5,700 kilometre dikes.
Lack of maintenance and damages caused by shrimp farming activities often lead to these dikes giving in to the impact of high tide and tidal surges during cyclones.
These photos were taken during a photography trip in Koyra upazila of the Khulna District last September, a few months after the cyclone Amphan hit the coast.
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As the embankment protecting the land breached, the villages got inundated, crop fields and shrimp enclosures washed away. People tried to repair the broken embankment, but it was too late.
As the river beds surrounding these polders rose due to sedimentation, there seems to be no end to this waterlogging. Sea level rise and consequent higher spring tides, in the context of climate change, only make the situation worse.
Many people were displaced, and those who remained took shelter on the embankments in thatched huts. Apart from losing their usual livelihood, their fight to find food and drinking water intensified beyond description.
The photos show people's unbeatable spirit and resilience as life goes on in the breached polders.
