Flooding In Bangladesh

Bangladesh
1. Densely Populated
2. One of the worlds poorest countries
3. 140 million people live on flood plains (80% of land is flood plain) of the river Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna
Affected by two types of floods
1. River floods
  1. Happen every year and are part of natural cycle of snow-melt and monsoon rainfall
  2. Floods bring millions of tons of silt that adds to the soil's fertility
  3. Flood water is used to irrigate farmland and is important part of the yearly cycle of agriculture
  4. Flood water mostly controlled by storm drains and embankments
  5. Some years the volume and pattern of rainfall is extreme and water level rise dangerously high causing severe floods
2. Coastal floods
  1. Created by cyclones that build up in the Indian Ocean and move towards the Bay of Bengal. Water is funnelled towards Bangladesh creating a storm surge
Causes of floods
1. Trees cleared for fuel and grazing so increased surface runoff
2. Heavy monsoon rains causes summer flooding
3. Melting of snow from the Himalayas adds to the volume of water in warmer months
4. Deforestation in the Himalayas increases surface runoff
5. 70% of total land area is less that 1m above sea lever - nowhere for water to drain
6. Increases surface run-off leads to soil erosion and more silt, raising river beds
7. Meeting of 3 huge rivers increases the flood risk
8. Cyclones create a storm surge
9. Rapid unplanned urban growth has added to the problem of flooding
Although physical factors increase the risk of flooding, there is an increasing number of human influences
1998 Flood
1. Rain exceptionally heavy and water levels reached record heights
2. Floods covered nearly 60% of the country
3. All main river channels were flooded
4. Capital city of Dhaka and number of regional cities were flooded
5. Hundreds killed and millions homeless
6. Agriculture land and crops were lost / contaminated by polluted water
7. 900 bridges and 15,000km of roads were destroyed
2004 Flood
1. Monsoon arrived early and heavy rain fell from late June
2. Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers had risen above their danger levels
3. A week later, flood waters drained southwards and Dhaka had begun to flood
4. Flood waters over-topped many flood protection embankments, inundating areas not provided with storm drainage systems
5. Affected 36 million people
6. Mid-August flood waters fallen in most areas

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Flooding In Bangladesh

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