Tiny and mighty: How the ‘khudi bari’ are helping Bangladeshis tackle flooding

A general view 'khudi bari' or 'tiny house' in Char Shildaha in Bangladesh. These homes, made on bamboo stilts rising out of the floodwaters help people survive flooding. – Photos: MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP

AN AWARD-WINNING architect in Bangladesh, one of the nations most at risk from flooding driven by climate change, has developed an ingenious two-floor housing solution to help people survive what scientists warn is a growing threat.

This year, when the annual monsoon floodwaters swelled the country’s mighty Brahmaputra river, 40-year-old farmer Abu Sayeed did not have to abandon his home for the first time in his life – but merely climb up a ladder and wait out the waters.