Tales of suburban (or even sundarban) motherhood : Cyclones, salt water and the surface of the moon

Some of the women in Koyra who had homes washed away during cyclone Sidr and Aila

So we are now in the summer season in Bangladesh.

There are 6 seasons overall:

Summer consists of Baishakh and Jaistha and lasts from mid April to mid-June. It’s hot and dry. There can be cyclones as the weather heats up. Last year was cyclone Mahesan.
The monsoon consists of ‘Ashar’ and ‘Sravan’. Basically hot, cloudy and wet. Roughly June – August/September.
Autumn. Bhadra and Arshin – roughly September – October. There is another (higher) risk of cyclones during this time. Dengue season is peaking around now.
Late autumn which consists of ‘Kartic’ and ‘Agrahayan’
Winter which consists of ‘Poush’ and ‘Magh’ – roughly December and January
And Spring which consists of 'Falgoon' and 'Chaitra' – roughly mid February – mid April. The weather is lovely. Temperature is good.

So soon there will be the risk of cyclones associated with the first cyclone season of the year although the main season is later on, towards the end of the monsoon. Cyclones hit the south of the country and have caused mass loss of life and destruction in the past. As a result, Bangladesh now has a relatively well developed early warning system (for example, it has extended the warning time from 2 to 5 days) and is investing in a wide range of structures and other approaches to help reduce the risk to people living in the cyclone belt. Cyclone shelters are part of this.

I went to Koyra in South West Bangladesh to visit some cyclone shelters under construction. This area was the subject of a very good recent NY times article on Bangladesh in the face of climate change:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/world/asia/facing-rising-seas-bangladesh-confronts-the-consequences-of-climate-change.html

A review after Cyclones Aila and Sidr showed a need for more than 2000 cyclone shelters in this area to provide refuge for those at risk of cyclones. A visit to the area shows a landscape like the moon. The land is barren and little appears to grow. Salt is clearly visible in the soil. On the other side of the river from one location you can see the green lushness of the sundarbans which is in stark contrast to the desolate landscape in which people are surviving. Cyclone shelters are being built to provide multi-purpose structures which the communities can use during normal conditions. For the most cases they are used as schools, complete with water, electricity and sanitation. An improvement on what went before but obviously also with additional costs associated with maintenance.