Cyclone shelter in Bangladesh

Nearly two months ago we were travelling through the south of Bangladesh. In the region named Khulna one can arrange a cruise to the Sundarbans, the famous mangrove swamp. Coming back to those moments, we recall the spotting of a cyclone shelter in the village at the entry point to the reserve. This spot, at the shore of a main channel of the delta that feeds part of the Sundarbans was visited by us for some moments, just the time to get an entry permission and board two officials.
We were walking into that village, leaving the water behind, surrounded by all the kids that at that time were off school, when we saw a cyclone shelter among some other rudimentary constructions, a few huts, and a public school, with a metal plate that told us that it was constructed with Australian funds. This was of the same kind we have seen about a year ago in Orissa, India, where cyclones cause destruction from time to time. Essentially we were in the same lands, although in different countries.
A cyclone shelter is basically a solid building, an elevated construction that provides security from the winds and upcoming water. The foundations are such that dissipate energy from upcoming flood waves from the sea or from riverine floods, with a semi pyramidal shape. Above it, at some meters from the ground, one or more spacious rooms are to provide shelter to a number of people. Then, above it, an open rooftop dominates the landscape.
These buildings are designed to cover a certain amount of population, therefore, in a region like this it is not difficult to find more than one. Indeed, when a cyclone shows up, the time to reach the shelter may be crucial.
Education of the population, or better said, letting people know how and when to use the shelter is a major issue. Seminars and explicative paintings around the shelter cover that function, so that people know how to proceed at the time all hear the hand-syren calling people in.
Nevertheless, speaking with people all this time, we got to know how the perception of a cyclone may differ from us. In this region strong wings and floods are frequent, if not seasonal, and not always hold a destructive force. Some people, used to these events, show reluctant to abandon all to go sheltered, completely unknowing the power that the cyclone might have. Not long ago a huge one showed up, just one year before our trip, one day of October. Many people did not hear the alarms, some misheared them, and many died.
From there we continued deep into the forest.

Bangladesh first impressions.

An old advertisement of the Bangladeshi Tourism Office says "Visit Bangladesh..before tourists come!". Tourists have not come, and Bangladesh has remained a country in which people are able to be surprised seeing foreigners, able to offer them a warm and deeply true hospitality.

After a long trip crossing the border point between the two Bengal states, one can experience something unusual in such a journey as ours: silence. Motorbikes and other motorised wheeled things are almost completely substituted by cyclo-rickshaws. Of course, buses exist, and many. One takes you from the border to Khulna. Indeed, busy city, but again, busy with human-paddeled vehicles. So one can feel the crowd, but the place is clean and somehow more relaxed than usual in India.

Our expedition takes us to the Sundarbarns, the biggest mangrove tidal forest on the planet. On the way, Mongla appears, a small village grown around an Italian mission, where Father Rigon had built a church, a school and a hospital. What one can see in Mongla is simply a small village. As simple as that, one can feel how life is in a rural Bangladesh. Life does not appear easy here, the influence of the tide is strong, as well as the salinity of the water and the terrain. Flood events keep most of this land wet, and the sediments allow fertile land only for some months. Life is though here, but people haven't lost their smile around here. Not our appraisal only, this is as well the comment of the missioner.

Because of bandwith problems here, we cannot offer any video, hardly a decent picture. The jungle is absorbing us... Soon more audiovisuals will appear here, and they will be surprising for sure.

The beginning of a journey

We are at the beginning of a trip that will send us to the lands of the Bramaputra, through India and Bangladesh. This is not the first time we go there, and this time the way we understand the world and especially the Indian subcontinent will be reflected by our works.

The written word and the registered image and sound, with photography and video, register what we are seeing in a moment, the way we understand it and, essentially, ourselves in a certain moment. The impressions that we print will be unvariable in time, as opposed to us, who will be changing in time and along our journeys.

And this is the purpose of our new journey, to get to know and give to know untold stories and places, people and circumstances that perhaps are not very interesting to the media. Indeed, what we don't know does not exist.

This is the evidence of a quest that can be followed by anyone at any time, learning with us about this world.