Bangladesh: Land Under Water

September 27, 2016 | Pulitzer Center

Nikita Sampath

Emirates Friendship Hospital, a floating hospital, brings primary health care to the people who live in the erosion prone chars or silt islands of northern Bangladesh. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Alam, a farmer, looks at his 13-year-old daughter Lima's teeth after a dentist visit on the Emirates Friendship Hospital, a floating hospital that brings primary and secondary healthcare to the chars or silt islands of northern Bangladesh. Alam has never been to a dentist. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Emirates Friendship floating hospital ambulance

A floating ambulance parked beside the Emirates Friendship Hospital. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

A staff member of the Emirates Friendship Hospital collects surgical clothes that were washed and dried earlier in the day. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

The erosion-prone chars of northern Bangladesh form and disintegrate over a couple years. The land on these islands is quite fertile. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Women wait in line in the rain to collect 20kg bags of rice that is given out by the government as part of a VGF (Vulnerable Group Feeding) program ahead of Eid-ul-fitr in a southwestern village of the country. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Rickshaw pullers take refuge from the rain in Boalia village, a fisherman hamlet in southwestern Bangladesh. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Boalia Village Khulna District Bangladesh

Residents of Boalia village, a cyclone-prone fisherman hamlet in southwestern Bangladesh, choose to raise ducks over cattle and chickens because the ducks can take care of themselves in the floods. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Asim Biswas (L) with his parents Badrakantha Biswas and Amala Biswas (R) in Boalia village, a cyclone-prone fisherman hamlet in southwestern Bangladesh. "If there's another big cyclone, we'll pack up and move to India," said Asim, only half-jokingly. Climate change is driving people to migrate away from villages. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Kakunthi, a resident of Boalia village, shows off a kaantha-embroidered blanket she made. The women of this fishing hamlet embroider sheets or make nets while their men folk are away at sea. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Climate Change causes more intense cyclones

Koyra number 6, a cyclone-prone coastal hamlet bordering the Sundarbans in southwestern Bangladesh. Climate change has made the cyclones in the area more intense over the years—the intensity of the cyclone directly depends on the temperature of the sea. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

Kukumoni Munda, a resident of Koyra number 6, a coastal hamlet bordering the Sundarbans in southwestern Bangladesh, walks more than half a mile each day to fetch saline drinking water from a pond. "Fresh water costs 10 taka a day. I cannot afford it," she says. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

The monsoon caused an embankment to breach and create a second parallel body of water in southwestern Bangladesh. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

A cyclone shelter in Koyra number 6, a coastal hamlet bordering the Sundarban mangrove forest in southwestern Bangladesh. Climate change has made the cyclones in the area more intense over the years—the intensity of the cyclone depends on the temperature of the sea. Image by Nikita Sampath. Bangladesh, 2016.

The mighty Brahmaputra that flows into Bangladesh from the Himalayas is home to a number of chars or silt islands that form and disintegrate over the span of a few years. Farmers and fishermen who live on the chars rely on the fertility of the land for their living. When a char breaks, they pack up and move to the next one. Floating hospitals run by the Friendship NGO bring primary and secondary healthcare to the people in the northern districts of Gaibandha and Kurigram.

In the cyclone-prone southwestern coastal Khulna district of Bangladesh, pools of drinking water have tuned saline. Climate change has made the cyclones more intense over the years. Building cyclone shelters and creating an alarm system to warn people of imminent storms have helped save lives. At the same time salinity in the water has led to hyper-tension and pre-eclampsia in pregnant women.