15 years of Cyclone Aila: It lashed once but changed lives forever

On this day in 2009, cyclone Aila lashed the coastal belt of Bangladesh, leaving behind a trail of destruction that affected about 3.9 million people.

The cyclone left 190 people dead and 7,100 injured, killed 100,000 livestock, destroyed crops across 350,000 acres of land, damaged all 39 polders of Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat districts completely or partially, breached 684-kilometre of the total 1,651-km embankment, and left 109 of the total 639 sluice gates unusable.

Photo: Habibur Rahman

Today, 15 years later since Aila unleashed its fury, hundreds of families who became homeless overnight are still living on embankments in a destitute condition in Dakope and Koyra upazilas of Khulna.

They lived through permanent displacement, prolonged struggle, and persistent adversity to remain afloat.

Satyajit Roy, 38, of Channirchak village under Dakope, is one of them.

Somehow, he had managed to survive the cyclone with his parents and wife, but they lost their home and eventually ended up on the embankment of Dhaki river.

Photo: Habibur Rahman

The family of four has been living in a two-room shack measuring 10 feet by 8 feet with a mere four-foot height for the past one and half decade. The risk of having this last bit of shelter swept away by the river's tide any day is ever present.

"We had a house on two bighas of land and had another one bigha of paddy field. Aila swept away our land. We lived on the remaining land for three years before it also went to the river due to erosion. All we got as compensation was Tk 20,000 and a 1,500-litre water tank," Satyajit said.

He now pulls a van while his father catches fish in the river to survive. They were neither considered for the government's shelter project nor got any help from the social safety net programme.

About 10 families of Channirchak and 40 families of Jaliakhali in the upazila are toiling through a similar situation on the same embankment.

Monsur Ali Khan, chairman of Dakope upazila parishad, said around 400 families across the upazila are living on embankments and khas lands after cyclone Aila left them homeless.

The story of Ranjit Mandal, a resident of Mathbari village in Koyra, echoed Satyajit's plight.

Over 700 families across Koyra are living on the embankments, while being left to fend for themselves being excluded from the government's rehabilitation and safety net schemes.

Meanwhile, at least 50 families were seen living on the embankment of Kapotaksha river in Mathbari, while 22 families are living on the river's embankment in Patharkhali area, and 19 families on the embankment from Hazatkhali Sluice-gate to Kashia Hatkhola area.

Contacted, SM Shafiqul Islam, chairman of Koyra upazila, said the government, as well as different private organisations, are working to rehabilitate the victim families.

Md Abdul Karim, relief and rehabilitation officer of Khulna district, however, claimed that all affected victims of cyclone Aila in the district were rehabilitated and helped by the government under various schemes including the shelter project.