Severity of Flood Embankments in Bangladesh and Its Remedial Approach

Construction of earthen flood control embankments is an established practice in Bangladesh for protecting people’s lives and homes, agriculture and infrastructures. The paper reports the results of recent status of river and flood control embankments in Bangladesh based on the field visits to embankments site, collected data and information on failure and on-service embankments during field visits, necessary data related to embankments construction practice obtained from available publications and news paper information reported in the year 2007. It studies the basic features and characteristics of floods and flood hazards, and reviews the design & construction practices followed. Several cases of successful and unsuccessful river and flood control embankments are investigated and analyzed. Based on the results of analyses and discussion, it shows that the present method of embankments in Bangladesh, although requires huge amount of money for its construction and repair every year, fails to solve the flood problem effectively and permanently rather it brings many other new problems. It not only increases the siltration on the floodplains and river beds but also creates a risky situation for the inhabitants inside the boundary of embankments. On the basis of overall present situation in Bangladesh, the paper also suggests a proper design and construction method of embankments to control and minimize the extent of flood hazards in the long run.