UP | uncultured project

[This is my first cross-posting, I was invited by the News Director at NowPublic.com to write an article for them regarding my thoughts on the impact of Cyclone Sidr and my first hand experience. If you would like to read this article on their website, click here. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.]

The biggest impact of Cyclone Sidr may be that it has shaken up the local complacency towards the plight of the poor. Bangladesh, a small country in South Asia with large a population of over 150 million people, is no stranger to tragedy. In the past six months Bangladesh has faced devastating floods, violent riots, military-backed curfews, and now a devastating cyclone. At present count, the death toll is over 2,000 with countless others alive but in desperate need of assistance.

If such a natural disaster were to happen in America, there would be numerous stories of neighbors helping neighbors and of people (such as nurses, EMTs, and firefighters) packing up and traveling cross-country to lend their services for free. Not so in Bangladesh. While the international outpouring has been immense – and many local NGOs have mobilized to assist – many Bangladeshis are surprisingly nonchalant about the crisis at hand. Much of this has to do with the division between rich and poor. With an estimated 80% of the country surviving on less than $2 a day, Bangladesh is sharply divided between those struggling to survive and those living it up. Being rich, in Bangladesh typically means being insulated and detached from the tragedies that fall upon the country.

The rich tend to congregate in Dhaka City where they live in up-scale apartment complexes and homes. These are strategically built on higher ground, in gated communities, with their own backup generators and reserve water tanks. Most of the urban rich do not have to worry about driving, cooking, or cleaning as it is relatively inexpensive for them to hire chauffeurs, cooks, and maids. Having lived in this country for the past six months, I have observed that the typical routine for rich Bangladeshis is to stay sheltered at home during floods, riots, and curfews and then – when it is all over – resume daily activities as if nothing has happened.

“Poverty of most Bangladeshis is viewed as an important – but not urgent – issue by the Bangladeshi’s elites” explains Dr. Noami Hossain – an employee at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and author of the book “Elite Perceptions of Poverty in Bangladesh”. The rich in Bangladesh “do not feel threatened by the extent of poverty, or by poor people” Hossain explains in one of her research papers, rather they feel that poverty threatens “the wealth or international stature of the nation”. [full disclosure: this was cited from a pre-existing piece of literature, not a new interview].

Cyclone Sidr’s impact, however, may change that. For the first time in a long time, a natural disaster was of such a magnitude that it not only affected the rural poor along the coastline – but also the urban rich nestled near the heart of the country. Many city dwellers, such as myself, were greeted by Cyclone Sidr with exploding transformers as the national power grid ground to a halt. The sight was both scary and felt like something out of a movie. Sidr’s winds were powerful enough to topple the homes of many of the poor but was also strong enough to violently shake the windows of many urban apartment dwellers.

The rich and poor of this country, who virtually live in different worlds, are now united in their need to recover. Even luxuries such as chauffeurs, cooks, and maids now serve as personal reminders of the loss this country has faced. As many of these employees are now asking for time off as they have either lost their home, lost their roof, or want time off to search for a lost loved one. Long lineups at the gas station also serve as a reminder of more important supply and demand problems – such as the distribution of food and blankets to the poor.

Whenever the wind knocks something down, there is always a desire to build something stronger in its place. Perhaps, Cyclone Sidr can forge a more unified Bangladesh – where people care for eachother just a little bit more than before.