Flood In Bangladesh Essay

Bangladesh encounters annual river flooding due to both snowmelt water from the Himalayan mountains through the two major rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, as well as more local rainfall in the catchments of the rivers, including the third major river, the Meghna (Ali 1996). These floods cause tremendous destruction and loss of life as well as damage to crops and other infrastructure. They also cause the spread of diarrheal diseases which are a major health hazard for the people of Bangladesh (Ali 1996). In the case of a Sea Level Rise, there will be an outbreak of Cholera and salinity tolerant mosquitos in the country (Kibria 2014).The detriment caused by the cyclones of 1970 and 1991 took the lives of 500,000 and 138,000 people respectively. There were dreadful floods in 1984, 1987 and 1988 which caused significant loss of life and land (Ali 1996). Any rise in sea level will enhance the height and duration of such river floods, increasing the flood hazard zone (Huq et al. 1995). During the Pre-monsoon (March to May), when temperatures are highest (average 40°C) with high evaporation rates, heavy rain showers, and line squalls, the coastal areas are …show more content…
This is of great concern since the location and geography of Bangladesh make it not only particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change but also extremely hard to protect during natural disasters (Karim and Mimura 2008). The consequences of climate change lead to an increase in the cyclone-prone area and put a large number of people at risk. As a low-lying country, Bangladesh is considered as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change and sea level rise (Karim and Mimura 2008). The country is experiencing rising sea level along its coast due to global Sea level rise and the subsidence of the Ganges delta (Karim and Mimura