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Article: After the deluge: villagers recover following Bangladesh's worst floods this century.
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- November 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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VILLAGERS on Char Ishapasha heaved a sigh of relief when the flood waters started to recede this September. For two months, the inhabitants of this island had survived by living on rafts, while the deluge of the Brahmaputra River consumed everything in sight. Abdul Karim was one of the few who stayed to witness the spectacle. `Day after day we stayed inside using the raft for cooking and other purposes. The raft was also our only hope for survival if the house gave in to the current or the deposit level rose further.'
What Abdul Karim meant by `deposit level' is evident today. An entire village on the island, home to 28 families, has been buried under some three ...