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Flood Crossing
Photograph by James P. Blair
Water completely defines Bangladesh. Every year floods sweep across much of the land. Catastrophic tropical cyclones bring storm surges as well as murderous winds. Yet the power of the water to destroy is almost equally matched by its power to create.
Passing paddies submerged by monsoon floods, villagers of Nishantapur slog over land that is both enriched and imperiled by the raging waters their nation struggles to tame.
—From "Bangladesh: When the Water Comes," June 1993, National Geographic magazine
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A Char
Photograph by James P. Blair
Many sections of land are like saucers, with riverbanks forming their rims. Silt raises the riverbeds, not only creating chars [islands of silt within rivers] but also causing the rivers to spill over their banks, sometimes carving out a new course. … At Sadullapur the Meghna River ate away 200 feet (61 meters) of earth in ten days.
—From "Bangladesh: When the Water Comes," June 1993, National Geographic magazine
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Man Pulling Poultry Baskets
Photograph by James P. Blair
Toting a tower of poultry baskets to market, a van ricksha driver pedals the streets of Dhaka, awash in backed up monsoon waters. Even waist-high flooding does not stop work in this teeming capital of nearly six million, which lies less than 25 feet (7.6 meters) above sea level.
—From "Bangladesh: When the Water Comes," June 1993, National Geographic magazine
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Herder With Water Buffalo
Photograph by James P. Blair
For a luscious break from August temperatures that average 84°F (28.9°C), a young herder does refreshing backflips off water buffalo taking their daily bath in the Turag River just west of Dhaka. Though waters near the capital are polluted by oil, dyes, chemicals, and sewage, most of the nation's roughly 250 rivers are wide enough or fast enough during the monsoon to flush out impurities. Water buffalo, worth about [U.S.] $300 each, are used mainly for plowing and milking. Children also must toil. Most start working before age ten to augment meager family incomes.
—From "Bangladesh: When the Water Comes," June 1993, National Geographic magazine
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Crowded Nouka
Photograph by James P. Blair
North of Dhaka on the Lakhya River, a wooden country boat, or nouka—overcrowded and barely above water—symbolizes Bangladesh as aptly as does its national flower, the water lily. Often the only choice for travel, boats ply some 5,200 miles (8,400 kilometers) of waterways. Though overflowing with 112 million people crammed to approximately 2,700 people per square mile (roughly 1,045 per square kilometer), Bangladesh abounds in what it needs most: prottasha—hope.
—From "Bangladesh: When the Water Comes," June 1993, National Geographic magazine
