River Erosion and Shifting Weather Push Up Health Risks in Manikganj, While the Mental Toll Goes Uncounted
River erosion, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall are steadily pushing the physical and mental health of people in Manikganj into danger. Houses and crops lost can be counted in money, but research shows that the long-term trauma of displacement, deteriorating health, broken social ties and ruined schooling — the so-called 'non-economic loss and damage' — never enters any ledger.
In Aynapur village of Tilli union in Saturia upazila, river erosion has swallowed 20 decimals of Bini Begum's land. She moved her house several times in fear of the river, yet the land could not be saved. Around a dozen families in the area have lost land to the river; many who lost their homesteads have taken shelter on government khas land, with relatives, or in other people's homes.
Looking towards the river, Bini Begum said: 'The loss of land and home to erosion can be measured, but who can measure the pain when the ancestral homestead and the trees in the yard sink into the river? When the monsoon comes I cannot sleep at night; I keep thinking the house will fall into the river again.' That fear of erosion is now a daily companion for people living along the banks.
In Lecharaganj union in the char areas of Harirampur, nearly two thousand families have already lost their homesteads. In Harhordia and Joypur alone, more than 150 houses have gone into the river — a scale that shows the problem belongs not to one village but to the entire char region.
Jibon Molla of Harhordia village watched the graves of his ancestors slide into the Padma before his own eyes. He said: 'The Padma has taken our homestead and our crop land in front of us. This year even the last trace of our ancestors disappeared into the river. The eighteen-year-old grave of my great-great-grandfather Main Uddin Molla went into the Padma, and I could do nothing. Now it feels as if nothing of our roots remains in this soil.'
Badal Khan used to work at a printing press in Dhaka. He returned home eight years ago after retiring; his family has eight members, including his wife, five sons and grandchildren. Their ancestral homestead stood in the remote char of Ajinagar in Harirampur upazila. About forty years ago the Padma took that homestead, and the family rebuilt in Abidhara village of Dulshura union. But there was no final rescue there either — two of his houses, along with furniture and belongings, were swallowed by the river. Losing his home again at the end of his life has left him mentally broken.
Data show that alongside erosion, rising temperatures and irregular rainfall are endangering public health in Manikganj. Researchers from Stamford University Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Research Initiatives of Environment Society analysed thirty years of weather data, from 1976 to 2005. Their report, published in 2018, found that Manikganj's average annual maximum temperature is rising by 0.01 degrees Celsius a year and the minimum by 0.02 degrees, while total annual rainfall is falling by an average of 2.9 millimetres a year.
A household survey found that 97 percent of families reported regularly suffering from colds, coughs and fever. Eighty-five percent named diarrhoea and 31 percent named skin diseases as major health problems. During floods or droughts, cold and fever (30 percent), diarrhoea (29 percent) and dysentery (20 percent) are the most common. Among local residents, 42.1 percent blamed extreme temperature swings for diarrhoea and 37.9 percent for skin diseases.
Researchers from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Jahangirnagar University analysed a 'Livelihood Vulnerability Index' (LVI) in Teota union of Shibalaya upazila in 2025. They found that floods damage people's physical and human assets the most, but the deeper blow lands on the mental and social sphere. The fear of becoming homeless creates intense psychological stress, through which mental disorders spread among the affected.
Repeated relocation drags down the index of social capital — the network of mutual help among kin and neighbours. That weakens people's ability to recover. When families fall into financial crisis after losing their livelihoods, adolescents drop out of education and the risk of child marriage rises in many cases.
The government adopted the 'Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100' in 2018 to confront climate risk, but the research found it gives priority mainly to embankments and physical infrastructure. Clear guidance on protecting the mental health of riverbank communities, rebuilding social capital, and assessing and compensating non-economic loss is still absent from the national strategy.
Sonia Akter Pushpo, an associate psychosocial counsellor at Moner Bondhu, said: 'Losing a homestead to river erosion is not only a financial loss; it deeply affects people's mental health. Losing one's own home, the traces of ancestors and a familiar environment leaves many people suffering uncertainty, anxiety and mental stress.' She added: 'Repeated displacement destroys their sense of security and can create distance in social relationships. Women, children and the elderly can face extra mental crisis in such situations. So alongside protecting homes and assets, ensuring mental health services, social support and rehabilitation for the affected is essential.'
Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, said: 'The damage from climate change is not limited to the financial loss of homes or crops; it has long-term mental and social effects as well.' She said that without adequate international funding for non-economic loss and damage, necessary support in this sector will be hard to ensure, and that allocations from the government's own Climate Change Trust Fund must prioritise mental health services and social rehabilitation for people hit by erosion.
Manikganj's civil surgeon, Dr Ivy Ferdous, said: 'Even a building constructed to provide health services has been swallowed by the river through erosion. Still, health workers are working to ensure services at the grassroots. A process is under way to launch boat ambulances to ensure primary health care in erosion-prone areas.' Akhtaruzzaman, executive engineer of the Manikganj Water Development Board, said risky areas are being identified and protective measures taken, but the river's changing course and currents make erosion prevention difficult everywhere; he said a coordinated initiative by the relevant agencies is needed for rehabilitation and to reduce the long-term suffering of the affected.
