Water logging in Chittagong

Chittagong is the second largest city and the busiest sea port in Bangladesh. It is located on the banks of the Karnaphuli River in the south-eastern region of the country. The city is surrounded by magnificent hills and has some of the most attractive tourist places. Chittagong is the city linked with one of the largest river in Bangladesh. The wide river systems are fundamental to the country's economy and the people's way of life.

Although, Chittagong is known for its beauty and mountains, it is also the home to some of the most dangerous disasters. One of the smallest yet largest disaster in Chittagong is water-logging. Water-logging occurs when the water channels get clogged and cannot flush the rain water out.

The people in here suffer from this issue. It gets harder for them to travel from place to place. The problem is getting worse day by day. The City Corporation in Chittagong is not paying much attention to these details which are causing the lives of the residents in different areas to get into problems. The children cannot go to school, the employees are facing everyday issues regarding going to their daily work.

The First cause according to “The Financial Express” is that the absence of a well-knit underground drainage system in different parts of Chittagong. Different building constructors are filling up the rivers or drains to construct building according to their will. They are not paying attention to the fact that filling up those canals are causing the water to get clogged and not able to pass or flush through drains.

In this above picture, taken in Muradpur, Chittagong, a few days ago, it rained for 1 day and the water couldn’t flush away due to the clogged drains and as a result the water clogged. There are two huge drain in the two sides but due to the clogged drains, the water could not pass and the water filled the road.

Another cause according to the “Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners”, was that the root cause of severe water-clogging is its chocked-up network of 16 major canals which are supposed to flush out the rain water. A large part of these canals have been invaded upon by the local influential people, causing disruption to the normal flow of water. There are many canals in Chittagong but due to the disruptions there are water –logging caused.

The normal residents encounter problems due to this water-clogging. The children face many problems when they go to school. The employees face day to day problems because they had to face this problem.

The pictures are living proof because you can see that the kids are unable to travel from one place to another due to the water-logging and how unsafe it for them to travel from one place to the other.

So, what can we do as residents to help reduce water-logging? It is our duty as a society to help people be aware of the consequences. So what we can do is that we can make posters and banners addressing the issue and present it to schools or offices. The voluntary organizations can work on to this as their work to make people aware too.

Also, it is very unhygienic to travel or walk in the water from one place to another because the water carries so much dirt and wastes. The people might get different infections and suffer from diseases.

The more people know about it, the more people will act against it.