Flooding Impact Ledc and Medc

LEDC: Bangladesh
Between July-September 1998, Bangladesh suffered one of its worse ever floods. Despite flooding being common in this country, the floods of 1998 were particularly severe resulting in over 1000 deaths and 30 million people being made homeless
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF FLOODING

It is important to remember that whilst flooding has serious impacts on human life in Bangladesh it is also instrumental in the wellbeing of Bangladesh's economy and the survival of its people. So what are these positive effects of flooding?
1. As well as providing water for crops, when flooding occurs, as there is friction between the water and the surface of the land, the water slows down and loses its energy. This loss of energy results in the deposition of rich fertile soil resulting in the providing important nutrients enabling people to grow crops;
2. This deposition of silt also creates land upon which people can live - for example the Ganges delta has been formed in this way as deposition has occured where the river has entered the Bay of Bengal.
EFFECTS OF THE 1998 FLOODS:
Then there are the usually bad effects of natural disasters:

1. Over two thirds of the land area was covered by water and the capital, Dhaka, was 2m underwater.
2. 30 million people were made homeless in the floods with many losing all their belongings.
3. 1,070 people died - this death toll resulted from a number of things. As well as people being killed by drowning in the flood waters, health problems increased the number of deaths further. Contamination of water by waste and dead bodies / animals, and the lack of a clean water supply resulted in the spread of disease such as cholera and typhoid. Further deaths from snake bites and other injuries which led to death through the lack of access to medical care.
4. Food supplies were severely affected as flooding destroyed the rice stocks with a total of 668,529ha of crops being destroyed;
5. The impact on the economy was signifcant with Bangadesh's export industries seeing a 20% decrease in production with over 400 clothing factories forced to close.
6. Communications became difficult, with shopping impossible in the main port, as well as roads and railways having been swept away making the distribution of aid and the rescue operation very difficult.

MEDC: Lynmouth
The small village of Lynmouth, which is located in Devon was struck by one of the worst incidences of flooding in living history on the 15th August 1952. Some newpaper articles of that time suggested that the flood that hit Lynmouth would occur every 100-200 years.
Effects:
1. Debris built up behind bridges resulting in the build up of a flow of water which eventually burst resulting in torrents of water flowing through Lynmouth with 34 people being killed in the disaster. Though this number is considerably lower than the death toll of Bangladesh, it is expected when looking at the defence systems between the MEDC and LEDC, but also population differences..
2. The West Lyn river took its original course flowing straight through Lynmouth destroying 90 houses and hotels. This is obviously a big burden on the towns economy ( less money from tourism), but also for the insurance companies which pay up. The people who lost their homes will have to find another place to live as their homes are being rebuilt. The town had the potential at that time to become a ghost town as the inhabitants believed it was not sufficiently protected from nature.
3. Lots of personal property had been lost in the flooding. A total of 132 cars and 19 boats were swept away- some as far away as the ocean as the river had such a high velocity ( it even carried boulders).
4. Some of the lynmouth crops were damaged and some of the livestock washed away resulting in a great economic lose to the farmers.
5. After the flooding had occurred the government had to increase flood defences to make the chance of another great flood less likely. So new flood management teams where bought in to help protect the village- a positive effect.