Living With Floods: An Exercise in Alternatives

Living with Floods sets out to explore the 1998 deluge in bangladesh, one that has been described as the worst flood in this century. It seeks to explain the deluge by way of reflecting on the experiential aspect of the affected millions, including that of the writers. There are altogether twenty-five articles, divided broadly into three sections, namely ‘survival strategies, ‘sustenance and work opportunities, and civic response. The three sections, however, mainly focus on the experiential aspect of the flood-affected people in alternatives, that is, practices that are ingeniously and indigenously arrived at but not necessarily out of the ordinary. Such practices of the flood-affected people, if properly known and universally disseminated, could prove handy if another flood of similar magnitude comes to play havoc in the lives of the people of Bangladesh.