Photo Description Essay

Flooding in Bangladesh

The image selected for this particular is a photograph from the Bangladesh flooding that happened in the past hence this is a news photo. It was used to depict the need for the Bangladesh government to invest more in the disaster management projects such as flooding and to show the extent of damage that flooding does both in terms of infrastructure like houses and human displacement as will be discussed below.

The image depicts a mother with a young boy, probably the son floating on top of a makeshift canoe that was made of gunny bags stuffed with some buoyant material, these two are barefooted. This improvised canoe is small, indeed the size of four gunny bags only hence cannot carry many people. There are several houses that are half way submerged into the flood waters and look like the area was an informal settlement area or a slum dwelling. There are interesting details on the image that actually drove the selection of this particular image, for instance on the makeshift canoe is a consignment of two metallic jars. These two jars are normally used for fetching clean drinking water or storing grains or liquid foods like tea. This brings in the irony captured in the photo since there is plenty of water around but it cannot be used by the dwellers of this village hence they have to go off to look for water and bring back at whatever risks of capsizing that could be. Most likely water as a commodity is very rare in plenty of contaminated water such that the woman has to go off with the son to help in fetching water and in the process learn too the responsibility that he may have to live to fulfill alone some days in the future since flooding could be a repeated event in this region.The availability of such a canoe also tells that the flooding event is an on and of thing though rampant but not permanent to warrant construction of a permanent real canoe as would be with those who dwell by the sea or lakes.

Another interesting detail captured in the photo is the high-rise building at the distant background. There are several of them, an indication that this informal settlement could be adjacent to a city that has massive investments directed into it despite having an informal settlement right next to the city. The woman is also seen to be using a stick to peddle the canoe which again brings in the idea that the flooding is not very frequent but repeats itself otherwise they could be using real oars to peddle the canoes. Finally the faces of the mother and the son are indifferent faces, they are neither sad nor happy, they do not look scared at the phenomenon and the danger surrounding them. It shows the have….....