When the Dam Breaks - A Photo Essay by A. M. Ahad

A part of the submerged cropland at the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj, approximately 15 kilometers away from the overflowing Haizda embankment. Humayun Kabir Khan, a native, said “With people having no money, rice market will soon be ceased; there will be no business at all”. Photo © A.M. Ahad

It didn’t take more than 72 hours to submerge 6000 hectares of cropland at the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Photo © A.M. Ahad

Just before the water hit some areas, farmers hurriedly slashed away immature paddies at the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Mohanganj upazila Chairman Shahid Iqbal said, “We could not make any difference, there’s no use struggling with the river flow”. Photo © A.M. Ahad

A labourer carries some drenched paddies, collected from the submerged Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Desperate farmers paid up to 800 taka per labourer a day to recover paddies, more than five times the usual price. Photo © A.M. Ahad

A labourer stacks drenched paddies, collected from the submerged Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Photo © A.M. Ahad

A labourer stacks drenched paddies, collected from the submerged Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Photo © A.M. Ahad

Just before the water hit some areas, farmers hurriedly slashed away immature paddies at the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Photo © A.M. Ahad

A labourer carries a tray of drenched paddies, collected from the submerged Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Photo © A.M. Ahad

A stack of paddies at the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj; boats that brought them in were paid up to 1000 taka per trip to the dry land. Hashem Ali, a native said, “The money spent in collecting the submerged harvest should better be used in buying rice”. Photo © A.M. Ahad

A mouse atop some floating hays over the flooded cropland at the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. When asked about the situation, Mustafa, a young man from the neighbourhood said, “It is God’s wish, there’s nothing we can do”. Photo © A.M. Ahad

Labourers carry paddies to adjacent dryland collected from the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Desperate farmers paid up to 800 taka per labourer a day to recover paddies, more than five times the usual amount. Boatmen charged around 1000 taka per trip to the dryland. Photo © A.M. Ahad

“It is difficult to see the yield spoil before our eyes. Whatever we have left and can collect is satisfying to some extent,” says Abul Kashem, a farmer in his late 30s, as he stares at a boat ferrying the crop recovered from his paddy field to dry land at the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Photo © A.M. Ahad

Labourers take away sacks of threshed paddies from the Dingabuta Haor in Mohanganj. Humayun Kabir Khan, a farmer, said “With people having no money, rice market will soon be ceased; there will be no business at all”. Photo © A.M. Ahad
Photos: A.M. Ahad / DrikNEWS
Text: Nabil / DrikNEWS
All Rights Reserved
About the photographer:
A. M. Ahad is a photojournalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Born in 1987, he got interested in photography which he studied at Stamford University. Ahad started his career as a contributor photojournalist for several daily newspapers, then as a staff photojournalist at DrikNEWS, an international photo agency in Bangladesh. He is now a staff photojournalist at The Daily Sun in Bangladesh.
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it must be really tough for those people. i hope they find their strenght to build everything all over again
Anonymous says
beautiful pictures that fill one's heart with compassion for the people trying to survive nature's wrath.
Anonymous says
nice works with the camera............it is really true a picture say thousand things..........
Maria Deems says
For some reason... this breaks my heart...
Unknown says
It is still hurting by seeing this pictures.Farmers farm for the love of farming. They love to watch and nurture the growth of plants. They love to live in the presence of animals. They love to work outdoors. They love the weather, maybe even when it is making them miserable.I am working for out home advertising. OOH media software has been a powerful type of advertising; it is empowered us to build our households and expansion our revenue, therefore empowering me to contract more workers and appreciate the achievement that we have. Out of home (ooh) advertising and web are the two quickest developing media segments.