LOHAJANG, Bangladesh -- Residents of this small Bangladeshi town on the Padma river have had to race to save themselves and their belongings as large parts of the river bank were swept away during monsoon floods in the past few weeks.

Since last month some 200 meters (660 feet) of a protective embankment have caved in causing massive erosion in Lohajang, 29 kilometers (18 miles) south of Dhaka, according to Water Resources Ministry officials.

Moina, a middle-aged woman who uses only one name, now lives in a makeshift home on the roadside.

"I was in my house when suddenly the floor started to crack ... slowly chunks broke into the river and with it our home which was built just two years ago," she said, adding her carpenter husband could not save enough money to buy more land for another house, AFP reported.

Jogmaya, a mother of seven children, said their home had also fallen victim to river erosion.

"It was painful and scary to see our home devoured by the Padma river and once we understood our home would go into the water we raced to save our belongings and cattle.

"We have now moved to this house on an annual rent of 6,000 taka (100 dollars) ... which is a curse for us as we don't know where we will go next to settle permanently," she added.

Studies say nearly 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of land, mainly cropland and homesteads, are lost each year through bank erosion. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a recent report that a million people are affected by river bank erosion each year in Bangladesh. Of those, 500,000 are made homeless and the rest "never find adequate shelter."

"It is the biggest problem in Bangladesh. It does more damage to the socio-economic conditions ... and hardly anyone has been shouting about it. It is an abrogation of humanitarian duty," the report said.

"In river bank erosion people do not die and it does not happen overnight which puts it on the lower end of Bnagladesh's calamity list," Anthony Ronald Maryon, head of the IFRC in Bangladesh said. "It is a silent calamity and a very serious problem as it causes imbalance in population and land ratio ... as victims move to towns and cities in order to survive, giving birth to new shantytowns."

He said the problem was also a natural one, intensified by changes in weather patterns, changes in the course of rivers and annual floods.

Awareness was needed to help those affected, Maryon said.

The Water Resources Ministry said the situation in Lohajang was serious, with a number of buildings, including some owned by the government, and the jail, being completely or partially destroyed.

Local official Nurul Islam said the calamity had affected 13,000 people as the river seemed to be changing course at Lohajang. "We have already distributed food and cash among the affected ... but protection or river dredging work can only start when the winter season arrives," he said.

Following reports of nationwide river bank erosion Prime Minister Khaleda Zia last week ordered the Water Resources Ministry to draw up both long- and short-term plans to prevent it.