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Tidal floods sweep through Chittagong City

In the past few years, climate change has begun to take a major toll on my home city of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Tidal surge - water levels rising significantly above the tide levels that astronomy predicts - has begun to affect the city as much as twice a day, resulting in frequent flooding of residential and business areas. Chittagong, the second-largest city in the country, is densely populated by people from all over Bangladesh who have come to the city to make a living, leaving areas plagued by river erosion, lack of jobs, and natural disasters such as cyclones. As they become refugees in this mega-city, however, they still find it difficult to deal with these recent onsets of climate change; the effects upon as large of a city as Chittagong are alarming. Locals such as myself are growing increasingly concerned, as we all may have to shift from our original localities due to this excess of water. My ongoing project ?Water World? seeks to bring these issues to light. The effects of climate change - rising sea levels and sea surface temperatures, resulting in greater instances of low pressure in the Bay of Bengal - have brought a sudden vulnerability to the lives and livelihoods of people living in coastal areas. Chittagong and Khulna, two major ports and business cities, are greatly threatened. The most heavily effected places are the old parts of Chittagong, like Chaktai, Khatunganj, Bakolia, and Agrabad. If things continue to worsen, the business hubs of Chaktai and Khatunganj could become completely submerged in the near future. The millions of people living in these areas have to battle tidal surge sometimes twice a day. Prior to this sudden regularity, the only tidal surge in remembered history occurred during 1991, when a hurricane hit the coastal area of Chittagong. The new, frequent tidal surges are even higher than that in 1991 and can remain for days on end, causing great concern for the inhabitants. Photo: Jashim Salam/NurPhoto

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