Raising homes, raising hopes

For many poor communities around the world, natural disasters are a recurrent fact of life, rather than a freak event. Preparing for the inevitable can mean the difference between life and death. Oxfam's disaster preparedness work across flood-prone South Asia is making a big difference.

Saleha's story

When the floods of 2007 struck India and Bangladesh, villages like Sahela Begum's (covered by Oxfam's River Basin programme) were better prepared than others to deal with the disaster. As a result many people didn't lose their homes and their belongings. Livestock were saved, and no one died.

Saleha's home used to flood on a regular basis. "In the 2004 floods the water level rose to the top of my door and my house was destroyed," she recalls. "All night we'd stay awake, keeping an eye on the children. We were scared. There was so much water we had to leave and find shelter elsewhere. When we came back and I saw my house I couldn't stop my tears... seeing that it had been destroyed."

In 2005 Saleha's homestead was raised with Oxfam support and it's made all the difference.

"At the peak time of the flood we can sleep at night, unlike before when the water would flood into the house and you'd wake up worrying about your children, your house, everything."

Weathering the floods

Saleha's house isn't the only thing that's survived the floods. Her tube well and latrine stayed dry, and so did the land where she grows vegetables.

"Now I can prepare my vegetable garden very quickly, unlike those who have to wait for the water to go down. My daughter and her family, and other people, have been able to come and stay here in safety. This area stayed dry, and the seedbed is dry, this will help me and help others too."

Saleha can easily imagine what life could have been like this year.

"If the homestead wasn't raised and there was water up to my knees I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be able to cook properly. I wouldn't be able to eat properly. I wouldn't be able to sleep properly. Everyone in this family would be living in a dirty, stinky environment. None of this happened this time because our homestead is raised."

Staying safe

Saleha and her family live in one of the char areas of Bangladesh. Like most people living in these remote flood-prone areas, they are amongst the poorest people in the country. Their lives and livelihoods are vulnerable, especially during times of flood.

When asked whether the money used for raising houses was well spent, or whether it would have been better used to develop another project in the area, Saleha is very clear.

"Providing people with assets would not be useful to those who face regular floods. So if their homesteads are not raised that's the first thing that should be done. Then when they are safe you can do other things, develop other activities. If you do only one thing, you should raise the homesteads. Because our homesteads have been raised, our living environment has changed. Now we're living better than how we were living in the past."

Learn more
In pictures: Preparing for floods

Oxfam's disaster preparedness programme in Gaibandha, Bangladesh is funded through The States of Guernsey Overseas Aid Commission as well as through the general public's generous donations through Oxfam Unwrapped.