Climate Change’s Darkest Legacy: The Rising Tide of Child Marriage in Bangladesh
One less mouth to feed, one more day to live
A father lost his ancestral home in the Cyclone Sidr 2007 flood, only to find refuge for himself and his family on a higher Char riverine island. But fate was unkind, as the devastating floods of 2015 swept away that sanctuary, too. Desperation drove them towards Dhaka, their only escape.
But fighting for survival is a never-ending struggle in the lowlands of Bangladesh.
On August 21, 2024, heavy rainfall, combined with a surge of water released from a dam in India’s state of Tripura (though later denied by the Indian government), resulted in severe flooding that affected 5.7 million people and left 1.24 million families stranded across 11 districts in northeastern and southeastern Bangladesh — one of the worst flood events in recent history. And a mounting death toll with the threat of waterborne diseases looming large.
