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UAE's Bangladeshi expats 'don't know if families are alive' as floods 'submerge' villages

For these residents, the inability to connect with their loved ones has turned the devastating natural disaster into a nightmare

Bangladeshi expats in UAE are anxious and concerned for their families back home as monsoon floods have ravaged their houses and towns, with communication cut off in most places.

The calamity, which has stranded nearly three million people and claimed at least 13 lives, has left families both in Bangladesh and the UAE in a state of panic.

For Akram, a 29-year-old resident of Sharjah, the past few days have been filled with sleepless nights. “For the last three days, I haven’t been able to contact my family members back home,” said Akram, his voice thick with worry. “The last thing I heard from them was that it was raining heavily, and the water level was rising. Since then, the calls are not connecting. We are glued to our phones, scrolling through the news, but we don’t know if they’re even alive.”

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“The situation in my home town is catastrophic,” said Akram. “Reading the news, I learned that entire neighbourhoods have been submerged, forcing residents to evacuate with whatever belongings they can carry.”

Ashraful Mubarak, a 34-year-old Deira resident, has been desperate to reach his family in Feni, a town severely impacted by the floods. “On the evening of August 21, my mother told me that water had entered our home and that they would have to move upstairs,” said Mubarak. “But by the evening of August 23, when I tried to contact them again, their phones were unreachable.”

Mubarak’s anxiety deepened as he repeatedly dialled numbers, only to face silence. “I tried calling everyone I knew in Feni, but no one was answering,” he said. “Finally, I reached a grocer near my home. He told me that my family was safe but that the entire neighbourhood was submerged, and people were relocating with no place to go. He also mentioned that most of the phones in the town had been washed away in the water, so there’s no way to stay in touch.”

‘Glued to TikTok, Instagram for updates’

For many, social media has become a lifeline in the absence of news coverage. Sattar Karim, a 42-year-old, restaurant owner in Ajman, has been constantly checking TikTok and Instagram for any signs of life in his home town of Cumilla.

“In my town, there’s still some mobile network, but most of the phones were ruined by the floodwaters,” said Karim. “A few residents who still have working phones are posting videos on TikTok and Instagram to show the situation to those of us abroad. Even the news channels aren’t providing up-to-date information. I have no idea what condition my family is in. I just hope they’re in good health.”

'No aid'

Jasim Kabir, a facility management executive at a real estate firm in Dubai said that his family, like many others, has been forced to seek refuge with relatives as their home was inundated. “We are not getting any aid,” said Kabir. “There’s no food, and the water we have is undrinkable. My family’s home is destroyed, and they are currently staying with my aunt. There are over 20 people crammed into a two-bedroom house. As the water recedes, I don’t know what they will do. There’s nothing left,” added Kabir.

The catastrophic flooding in Bangladesh has left millions stranded, their homes and lives upended by the deluge. For Bangladeshi expatriates in the UAE, the inability to connect with their loved ones has turned the devastating natural disaster into a nightmare.

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