Kalabogi: A portent of climate catastrophe

Bangladesh is one of the most populated countries and a sizable part of the people living in the low-lying coastal areas.

The poverty level of the country has decreased from 59% to 20.5% between the years of 1991 to 2019. Yet, more than 38.4 million people live below the poverty line which has been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years.

Many of them live in remote and ecologically fragile areas and cyclone prone coastal belts which remain vulnerable to natural disasters.

The small village "Jhulonto Para" of Kalabogi of Dakop Upazilla in the Khulna district is the perfect representation to display this terrifying scenario.

I visited Kalabogi in 2019 for a documentary photography project.

The view of Jhulonto Para beside the Shibsha River adjacent to Sundarbans is beautiful, but not at all secure.

Beset by a lack of proper embankments, any high tide can easily inundate the community. The last two coastal cyclones have wreaked havoc on the village and evicted a large swath of the locals. Jhulonto Para is no more on the maps, in a grim example of the ravages of natural disasters.

Jhulonto Para is a village situated on the bank of Shibsha, a river beside the Sundarbans in Khulna. A huge amount of investment is required in order to bring these villages inside a polder and protect the people and their crop. Photo: Din Muhammad Shibly

‘Motkas’ storing rain water from the monsoon which doesn’t even take a month to finish. The water that surrounds the village is not drinkable due to salinity. Photo: Din Muhammad Shibly.

There are no schools and hospitals nearby or a proper way to earn a living. Photo: Din Muhammad Shibly.

View of “Jhulonto Para” from Shibsha riverbank threatening total submersion. This coastal area has almost zero water security. Photo: Din Muhammad Shibly

Photo: Din Muhammad Shibly

Photo: Din Muhammad Shibly