Flooding in Bangladesh
FLOODING IN BANGLADESH
CAUSES OF THE FLOODS
There are several physical reasons why Bangladesh suffers from flooding almost every summer; It has the perfect conditions for such as disaster- this is because :
• tropical cyclones from the bay of Bengal bringing heavy rain and storm waves in late summer
• 70% of the land of the total area is less than 1 metre above sea level
• The total annual rain falls in the summer of Dhaka is almost 2000mm
• Rivers lakes and swamps cover more than 10% of the land area
• Snow melts in the Himalayas in the summer,making the river ganges flood.
Additionally, Most of the country is delta and flood plain, landforms formed by regular river floods. The amount of surface water makes them tough environments for populace, but at the same time they are also appealing because of the deep, constantly renewed silt soils that are extremely fertile, which support some of the highest agricultural densities of population in the world, with Bangladesh having a total population of 150 Million, growing rapidly. This growth leads to the removal of vast areas of forest to provide fuel, timber and grazing land. In Nepal,50 per cent of the forest cover that existed in the 1950s has been cut down. The forests absorb water from the ground, bind the soil particles and reduce the impact of rain droplets on the ground surface. The depletion of the forest cover increases soil erosion and overland flow. The soil is deposited in the rover channels, causing the river beds to rise, and reducing the capacity of the rivers. It has been estimated that the river bed of the Brahmaputra is rising by 5 cm each year. The building of Farakka dam in India in 1971 is blames for raising the river bed of the river Hooghly, a tributary of the Ganges, which consequently increases the risk of flooding. The interval between big floods has been shortening-whereas it used to be between 10 and 15 years, the 2004 flood came only six years after the last major disaster in 1998.
CAUSES OF THE FLOODS
There are several physical reasons why Bangladesh suffers from flooding almost every summer; It has the perfect conditions for such as disaster- this is because :
• tropical cyclones from the bay of Bengal bringing heavy rain and storm waves in late summer
• 70% of the land of the total area is less than 1 metre above sea level
• The total annual rain falls in the summer of Dhaka is almost 2000mm
• Rivers lakes and swamps cover more than 10% of the land area
• Snow melts in the Himalayas in the summer,making the river ganges flood.
Additionally, Most of the country is delta and flood plain, landforms formed by regular river floods. The amount of surface water makes them tough environments for populace, but at the same time they are also appealing because of the deep, constantly renewed silt soils that are extremely fertile, which support some of the highest agricultural densities of population in the world, with Bangladesh having a total population of 150 Million, growing rapidly. This growth leads to the removal of vast areas of forest to provide fuel, timber and grazing land. In Nepal,50 per cent of the forest cover that existed in the 1950s has been cut down. The forests absorb water from the ground, bind the soil particles and reduce the impact of rain droplets on the ground surface. The depletion of the forest cover increases soil erosion and overland flow. The soil is deposited in the rover channels, causing the river beds to rise, and reducing the capacity of the rivers. It has been estimated that the river bed of the Brahmaputra is rising by 5 cm each year. The building of Farakka dam in India in 1971 is blames for raising the river bed of the river Hooghly, a tributary of the Ganges, which consequently increases the risk of flooding. The interval between big floods has been shortening-whereas it used to be between 10 and 15 years, the 2004 flood came only six years after the last major disaster in 1998.