Causes and Prevention of the Bangladesh Floods

Causes and Prevention of the Bangladesh Floods

Bangladesh is a small less economically developed country situated in

Southern Asia. It is mostly surrounded by its neighbour India although

it does share an Eastern border with Myanmar (Burma) and to the south

it faces the Bay of Bengal. It is the world’s largest delta with a

total area of over 148 000 square kilometres which is just slightly

smaller than England and Wales. Its population however is more than

double that of the whole of the UK at over 126 million people. This

makes Bangladesh’s population density over 850 people per sq km. The

main use of the land in Bangladesh is for farming with 75% being

arable farmland producing mostly crops of rice and wheat. 5% of the

land is pasture, while 15% is forest meaning that only 5% of

Bangladesh is actually urban. This is because Bangladesh is a

relatively young country gaining independence from Pakistan on 16th

December 1971 making it only 32 years old. It has one main

international airport at Dhaka although there are others around the

country. E.g. in Sylhet.

Bangladesh is generally very flat which is perfect for farming. It has

one of the world’s longest beaches at Cox Bazaar and the climate is

very hot for most of the year.

Bangladesh has 6 seasons every year. For most of the year it is very

hot and dry, however during the monsoon season Bangladesh becomes very

vulnerable to flooding.

Being an LEDC, the average life expectancy is a mere 59 years old

while the adult literacy is just 43% and the infant mortality is a

shocking 1 in 10. This is mainly because the average annual income is

a poor $220. To make matters worse, Bangladesh suffers from regular

flooding from the River Ganges and the Brahamputra which both meet up

and flow through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal.

This project is about one of the floods that hit Bangladesh in 1998. I

will explain how it was caused and what can be done to prevent such