Bangladesh floods of 1998

1. Bangladesh floods of 1998 By Kiran

2. Flooding can happen in a few different ways, but one of the main ones is excess rainfall. If there is a lot of precipitation in a short period of time, rivers and lakes can get overfull and water can escape the confines of the banks, causing flooding. Another way is if there is a lot of rain falling very, very fast on a surface that doesn’t absorb water well (like concrete or asphalt as opposed to fields or forestland). The more developed an area is, the worse it is for flooding – tall structures may force water into buildings, and if the area doesn’t have a drainage system, it’s all the worse. If a dam, natural and man-made alike, breaks or leaks, it could cause flooding as well. Tsunamis can also cause flooding, but that isn’t weather-related. What weather causes floods?

3. Bangladesh’s area is very prone to floods because of its monsoon climate – lots of rain and snow. In the spring the snow from the Himalayas melt and the water flows down through the main rivers – Ganges, Jamuna (also called Brahmaputra) and Meghna – and all three getting tons of new water at the same time, exceeding their capacity, leading to flooding. Torrential rains from tropical storms also contribute, as does the fact that 70 % of Bangladesh is less than 1m below sea level and 80 % is floodplain On top of that, 10 % of Bangladesh is made up of rivers and lakes. Two of the main human causes of flooding are deforestation and urbanisation (which increases the scale of the floods). There are more, but we’re getting off topic of weather-related disasters. Therefore, flooding can be expected every year. Some of the worse and more recent floods (other that 1998) were in 2012 and 2004, though 1998 was the worst. Bangladesh and Flooding

5. Affected Areas of Bangladesh

6. Left: Bangladeshis going about their daily lives in knee-deep water Pictures and diagrams Right: Water up to the children’s waists

7. Top left: City of Dhaka flooded Top right: houses almost a quarter underwater Left: graph of the intensity of the floods. 1998 More Pictures and Diagrams

8. Tables and Maps Above: Map of Bangladesh. The arrows point to the 3 main rivers that flood (mentioned previously). Left: Table of Bangladesh’s yearly floods from 1954 to 2007. Note that the worst was in 1998(where the arrow is).

9. The flood had a large impact on the Bangladeshi economy. • 2 million tonnes of rice were annihilated. Half a million poultry and cattle were gone.Consequences: People who sell the rice have less money. Less money could mean not being able to pay for basic necessities like food, water, school and medical care. No food could mean becoming malnourished, an then you can’t pay attention at school/work. You could get sick, but you couldn’t pay for health care. Also, whoever buys the rice has less food (but I’ve already said the effects of that above). • The floods also affected Bangladesh’s export industries – over 400 clothing factories were forced to close, and production decreased by 20 %.Consequences: People who work at the factories lose their jobs, less money, etc. Bangladesh’s economy loses the money that the exportation industry brought. Their economy becomes smaller. Impact: Economic

10. In total, the floods cost the country almost $1 billion.Consequences: The economy loses that much money. Government has less money to spend on response and recovery and also building better dams and levees. Economic development is stalled. • Please note that all the fields (economic, environmental and human) are intertwined Economic Impact Continued

11. Many lives were destroyed or significantly altered by the floods. • Over 25 million people were made homeless, and many lost all their possessions.Consequences: Without shelter people can get sick from heat stroke or hypothermia. Also, maybe their money or passports or other important documents were lost so they couldn’t travel, or had no money et cetera. • Approximately 1,070 people died (not all directly from the floods).Consequences: Families grieve and are distracted. Also, the income goes with the person, and households could be left with nothing. On top of that, without workers the whole country has less income and the economy shrinks. • 7 million homes were destroyed.Consequences: see above • There was a severe shortage of food and water.Consequences: People may become ill or even die from malnourishment or eating contaminated food. Dehydration could occur, or sicknesses like cholera could arise from drinking dirty water. Impact: Human

12. Homes and crops were destroyed (see Impact: Human and Impact: Economic). • The flood lasted for so long – around three months – that the sanitation became very poor.Consequences: Many people died from water-borne diseases. Livestock could also perish the same way. • Entire villages were submerged.Consequences: People had to move to higher ground. Their possessions were ruined. They had to ration food. The higher grounds were so crowed that there was no room for animals, so they drowned. Crops were ruined. Sometimes the highest ground people could access was their roofs. • Roads, railways and bridges were wrecked.Consequences: No transportation and no way to get anywhere. You can’t make sure relatives are okay. You can’t go to school or work. You can’t access a hospital. You are marooned. Also, it makes it difficult to rescue you. Impact: Environmental

13. Though the floods of 1998 were devastating, the yearly ones do yield some good. Some positive results of the flooding are the rich, fertile soil and the crops being watered. New land that people can live on is created by the floods as well. Sadly, in 1998 the floods were too severe to really do this. Crops were ruined rather than watered, and the floods lasted too long for it to deposit silt and create new land or fertile soil Positive Effects of the Flood

14. Other countries did help Bangladesh recover, especially with food aid programs. To make up for the food shortage and ruined crops, 1 million tons of grain were imported (though that was costly). Aid workers and volunteers helped repair the damage. Free seeds were also given to the Bangladesh government to recover the crops. In terms of long term flood management, artificial embankments and flood shelters (for animals and people) were built. Emergency flood plans and warnings were created, as were water-proof food storage areas. I can only hope that these preventative measures held up during the floods of 2004 and 2012, the most serious ones since 1998, but I don’t know. Flood relief and Management

15. Most of the deaths weren’t from drowning or lack of food – the main killer was water-borne diseases. Dead bodies and animals and sewage floated around, so this is understandable. • The government of Bangladesh gave 350,000 tonnes of cereal to feed its people. • Dhaka, the capital, was 2m underwater • Over two thirds of the country was flooded. • In total, 700,000 hectares (around 1730 acres) of crops were destroyed. Important facts and statistics

17. Ask.com. Bangladesh Cause Flood? 2014. Question and answer. January 2014. • BBC News. South Asia Bangladesh floods rise again. 24 August 1998. Online news. 19 January 2014. • BBHS. BBHS CASE STUDY - Bangladesh - The causes and impacts of the 1998 Flood. n.d. Web. 19 January 2014. • Chambers, Mr. Flooding in an LEDC - The 1998 Floods in Bangladesh. 3 December 2006. Blog. 19 January 2014. • Discovery Channel. What causes flooding. 2011. Web. January 2014. Please note that since that it wasn’t required to cite pictures and diagrams, so they aren’t in my bibliography. Bibliography