In February 2018 part of the embankment that holds back the Chunar River west of East Dhangmari, Bangladesh, collapsed for the third time in a year. Sixteen houses were swept away in what for locals had become an almost routine tragedy. But as the catalog of misfortunes mounted over the following months, even the oldest, most judicious residents knew these were no ordinary crises. Rice yields during the 2018 dry-season harvest were way down -- often well under a ton an acre, which pushed up food prices. In many fields, vegetables simply wouldn't grow in the salty soils.
2018年2月,孟加拉國東當(dāng)馬里西部丘納爾河的部分大堤垮塌,這已經(jīng)是當(dāng)年的第三次了。16所房子被沖走,這種悲劇對當(dāng)?shù)厝藖碚f幾乎已經(jīng)習(xí)以為常。但隨著接下來幾個月中災(zāi)難的不斷發(fā)生,即使是最年長最理性的居民也知道,這些事情的發(fā)生絕非偶然。2018年旱季的水稻產(chǎn)量大幅下跌--通常是一公頃略低于一噸,抬高了食品價(jià)格。在部分地區(qū)鹽化的土壤上根本不生長蔬菜。
"Because of the water damage, it sometimes seems like only the carpenters have work," said farmer Bimol Sardar.
一位叫做比莫·沙達(dá)的農(nóng)民說道:“由于水患災(zāi)害的影響,有時(shí)只有木匠有事可干?!?/p>
In the spring of 2018, a disease that has proliferated across some of southern Bangladesh struck this quiet corner of the country. Cholera, thriving in the hotter temperatures and increasingly brackish waters of the Sundarbans, has come roaring back in the swamps in which it was supposedly born. When I visited, the local doctor was overwhelmed.
2018年春,一場席卷南孟加拉國的疾病打破了這個角落的寂靜?;魜y,這種誕生于孫德本爾斯的高溫和咸水中的疾病,又咆哮著回到了它的出生地。當(dāng)我去當(dāng)?shù)貐⒂^的時(shí)候,那里的醫(yī)生已經(jīng)不堪重負(fù)。