RIVER SURMA
River of Life Surma River
The Surma River is a major river in Bangladesh. It rises in northeast Indian region of Assam, flows through the city of Sylhet, goes on to feed the River Meghna, one of the three major rivers of the Ganges Delta. The Meghna River flows south past Dhaka and ultimately enters the the Bay of Bengal. The total journey from source to mouth is 946 km. Throughout its course, the river is known by many names. From its source in the Manipur Hills it is called the Barak River. At the border with Bangladesh, where the river divides, the northern branch is called the Surma River and the southern the Kushiyara River. The Surma is also known as the Baulai River after it is joined by the Someswari River. When the Surma and the Kushiyara rejoin above Bhairab Bazar, the river is known as the Meghna River. The Surma is prone to flooding in the monsoon season between the end of May and the middle of October. Nearly 80% of the annual average rainfall in Sylhet occurs between May and September. Conversely, during the dry season, from November to April, the Surma can run dry leaving the region with severe water shortage issues as shown in the photograph below left. This area of northeast Bangladesh is characterised by shallow basins known as haors and beels (oxbow lakes) which fill with flood waters during the monsoon season and become important wildfowl habitats. The highly distinctive landscape was caused by tectonic subsidence primarily during the earthquake of 1762. Sylhet region falls within the most earthquake prone zone of the country. During the last 150 years three major earthquakes have occurred in this area. But since the last catastrophic earthquake occurred in 1918, very few people remember it. Experts clearly say a strong earthquake affecting a major urban centre like Sylhet may result in damage and destruction of massive proportions and may have very long term consequences for the entire country. Like most major urban centres in Bangladesh, Sylhet has grown tremendously in the last few decades due to unabated migration from the smaller towns and rural areas. The city has developed in an unplanned way with little consideration for proper town planning norms. About 80 per cent of the city’s buildings have been constructed without following the authorised building code.
River Surma was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2011 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER SURMA
Polluted River Dirty Water The River Surma divides the city of Sylhet into two parts. 40% of the city’s water is drawn from ground water pumped via tube wells and the river provides the remainder. Some of this supply is treated at a purification plant and then piped into homes and offices. The remainder is drawn directly from the river and from the canals and storm water drains that feed into the Surma. But the water of Surma River is being contaminated daily by the direct and indirect disposal of the solid wastes, domestic and municipal sewage and agricultural run-off. Population and industrialization in Sylhet are increasing at an alarming rate and the density of population is extremely high in and around the city area. Domestic, industrial and hospital wastes, both solid and liquid are being dumped into canals that feed into the Surma. Also, the city’s sewerage system is connected with these canals that in turn convey these huge wastes to the River Surma. Unfortunately, some 25% of the ground water boreholes are contaminated with high levels of arsenic, due to poorly managed soil fertilization and this has made this water unsafe to drink. The City Corporation recently admitted to only being able to meet about 30% of Sylhet’s water needs. As a result, investment has been committed to sinking deeper wells, to extending water pipelines and to open a new water treatment plant in the south of the city. Sometimes during the dry season, the water baoreholes are not deep enough to reach falling water table making even the clean sources unavailable. This situation is not helped by the fact that Sylhet’s electricty supply is erratic and often fails, thus preventing many of the electrical water pumps from operating. Alarmingly, of the 331 registered restaurants in the city of Sylhet, only 15% maintain sanitary facilities whereas 85% have unhygienic conditions that are unsafe for the public.
River Surma was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2011 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER SURMA
Resourceful River Flooding Bangladesh experiences a mild winter from October to March, a hot, humid summer from March to June. A warm and humid monsoon season lasts from June to October and supplies most of the country's rainfall. Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores occur almost every year more often than not during the monsoon season. The cyclones of 1970 and 1991 were particularly devastating. A cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1991 killed some 140,000 people. Actually, small scale flooding in Bangladesh does have beneficial effects. It is required to sustain the agricultural industry, as sediment deposited by floodwaters fertilises fields. The water is required to grow rice, so natural flooding replaces the requirement of arteficial irrigation, which is time consuming and costly to build. In September 1998, Bangladesh saw the most severe flooding in modern world history. As the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and Meghna spilt over and made 30 million people homeless. Two-thirds of the country was underwater. There were several reasons for the severity of the flooding. Firstly, there were unusually high monsoon rains. Secondly, the Himalayas shed off an equally unusually high amount of melt water that year. Thirdly, trees that usually would have intercepted rain water had been cut down for firewood or to make space for animals. Bangladesh is now widely recognized to be one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Natural hazards that come from increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to increase as climate changes, each seriously affecting agriculture, water & food security, human health and shelter. Most parts of Bangladesh are less than 12m above the sea level, and it is believed that about 10% of the land would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by 1m. It is believed that in the coming decades the rising sea level alone will create more than 20 million climate refugees.
River Surma was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2011 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER SURMA
Working River Lascars . The borders of presentday Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became East Pakistan. It became independenf following the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 and, since 1991, democracy has been restored. The city of Sylhet, with a population of about 500,000 is one of the largest cities in Bangladesh. The Sylhet region is well known for its tea gardens and tropical forests The city is also known for its business boom; being one of the richest cities in Bangladesh, with new investments of hotels, shopping malls and luxury housing estates, brought mainly by expatriates living in the United Kingdom The first of these ex-pat workers were the Lascars, the name given to Indian sailors who formed part of the crew of almost every ship in the British merchant navy. They were economic migrants, seeking a better life beyond their country. So many wanted to go to sea that to be taken on as a deckhand or a stoker, a young Bengali needed to bribe the serangs (the labouring gang bosses) of Calcutta, where several big British shipping lines had their eastern headquarters. Most of the Calcutta recruits came from Sylhet, then a town and district of Assam and now the northernmost part of Bangladesh. Why they came from Sylhet is mysterious: the district is far from the sea and could be reached by river steamer only in the monsoon season. Many Sylhettis did not return home. They left their ships to found, near the docks of east London, what has become one of the fastest-growing ethnic, linguistic and cultural components of Britain: the Bangladeshi community. These days, although two-thirds of Bangladeshis are farmers, more than three quarters of Bangladesh’s export earnings come from the garment industry, which began attracting foreign investors in the 1980s due to cheap labour. Recently, Bangladesh has been ranked as the fourth largest clothing exporter. The industry now employs more than 3 million workers, 90% of whom are women.
River Surma was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2011 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER SURMA
River City Sylhet’s Londonis More than eight out of 10 Indian restaurants in the UK are owned by Bangladeshis, the vast majority of whom - 95% - come from Sylhet. In 1946, there were 20 restaurants or small cafes owned by Bengalis; in 1960 there were 300; and by 1980, more than 3,000. Now, according to the Curry Club of Great Britain, there are 8,500 Indian restaurants, of which roughly 7,200 are Bengali. The departing workers are known locally as Londonis and the money they send back not only supports their families, it has also helped to build kindergartens, schools, mosques, health centres, hotels and shopping centres. There's even a drug rehabilitation centre built to deal with British Bengali heroin addicts. A little money from the UK goes a long way in Bangladesh, and Sylhet is now one of the richest towns in the country with the area's economy largely built on British curry. Much of the money comes from London’s East End, where the majority of Bangladeshis settled when they arrived in the UK. They came from one of the world's poorest ar eas to London's poorest borough: Tower Hamlets, where around 37% - 123,000 - of the borough's population is Bengali. Tower Hamlets is now twinned with Sylhet and the electoral ward of Spitalfields has been officially renamed “Banglatown”. In Brick Lane, Bengali staples such as jack fruit, betel nut and paan leaves and frozen fish caught in Sylhet's Surma river are for sale. Dozens of travel agents offer flights to Sylhet with Biman Bangladeshi Airlines for around £500; the weekly Sylheter Dak - with a UK circulation of around 7,000 a week - has an office here. There's a shop called Sylhet Stores, a lawyers' office called Sylhet & Co and a Bangladeshi Welfare Association. There are Bangladeshi banks and remittance shops, and a booming black market in money transfers. Almost everything, it seems, harks back to Sylhet. And in Sylhet, many things hark back to London. There's a shopping centre called London Mansions and shops named London's Fashions and London's Shoes. There's even a Tescco, with the same typeface as the British supermarket but intentionally misspelt to prevent any legal action. Some are even opening British-style curry restaurants with names like Taste of Bengal and the Last Days of the Raj. Less Londonis seem to be sending less and less money back to Bangladesh and this may have major repercussions. In the 1960s and 70s, 85% of Londonis sent money home whereas the percentage has now dropped to less than 20%. But in Sylhet, some 70% of the community still rely on remittances sent from relatives abroad.
River Surma was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2011 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER SURMA
River Culture Nouka Baich Since rivers form an integral part of Bangladesh's history, tradition, literature, culture and sports, boat races have been and still define an important element of folk culture. For centuries Nouka Baich, or boat races have been taking place in the subcontinent. Every year, a baich would bring together young and strong farmers, fishermen, carpenters and many more from nearby villages for a thrilling contest that would eventually bring about the year's winning team. These boat races were not only a major source of yearly entertainment for the villagers, but also a way to prove one's superiority in terms of strength and sense of navigation, especially for long-time winning villages. Even though, these yearly boat races have now lost a little bit of their popularity and also the thousands of spectators who would crowd up the riversides to watch the event, boat races are still happening in many parts of the country. The race-boats are very narrow in shape and are as long as 150 to 200 feet or more, carrying more than 70-75 participants from a single team. In addition to the rowers the boats carry dhol players to keep the rhythm flowing amongst the rowers during the race, two men acting as navigators. While racing, the boatmen sing in chorus to seeking God's blessings. Boats filled with cheering spectators move along with the race-boats and capzises of both competitor boats and spectator boats are frequent hazards. As many as 28 groups from districts in Sylhet take part in the annual races. Traditionally, the boat races are held during the Bangla months of Bhadra and Ashwin (between August and November).
River Surma was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2011 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org
