Causes, Effects and Responses to the 1998 Floods in Bangladesh.

By: Christina McConney MYP1

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What are the Physical Causes of Flooding

Source: http://www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/images /about/p16204.jpg

The water is able to spread easily due to the fact that Bangladesh is mainly a flat country with 70% of its land being less than 1 meter above sea level and 80% being a flood plain. This topography results in the water being able to spread across large areas of land.

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This map shows why the water spreads so far into the country. It is because so much of the land is so close to sea level.

Source: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/images/thumb/e/ef/Banglad esh_Sea_Level_Risks.png/300px Bangladesh_Sea_Level_Risks.png

Washout: the topography clearly shows why Bangladesh floods so regularly 3

What are the Human Causes of Flooding

The increase in population in Bangladesh is one of the human causes of flooding. This increase in population means that more water wells have been dug in the earth and has weaken the soil. This means that the land floods more often.

This graph shows how fast and how much the population grew between 1960 and 2000.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Bangladesh 4

Another impact of the population growth has been the large amount effects of deforestation at the foothills of the Himalayas. The picture above shows how the water level rises when there are less trees. The trees that used to hold back the water have been cut down Source: http://science.jrank.org/article_images/science.jrank.org/deforestation-and-landscape.1.jpg

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Another human impact is the amount of construction.

In this picture taken of the 2004 floods, you can see that the large amount of high buildings constructed so close together does not allow the water to spread and as a result it can only rise up.

Source: http://www.global-greenhouse warming.com/images/BangladeshFlood2004.jpg

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Primary effects

• • • • • • • 1,070 people died because they drowned or they caught infectious diseases.

70% of the country was flooded People were getting bitten by snakes Crops and animals were dying which left the people with little food.

2 thirds of Dhaka (the capital city) was flooded 30 million people were left homeless Communications became difficult Source: http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/rio_conventions_calendar/2005/image/ pjpeg/rio_calendar2005_intro.jpg

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Secondary effects

• • • • • • • • Lack of basic medical care 175 000 cases of serious diarrhoea Major food shortage No safe drinking water. Water supplies were contaminated by dead bodies of humans and animals. This spread diseases like Cholera and Typhoid.

Little to no safe dwelling place.

Snakebites Decrease in manufacturing Difficult communication 8

Shopping became very difficult, almost impossible.

Source: http://www.all creatures.org/hope/gw/2004-09 13_Bangladesh_flood.jp

g The picture on the left is an example of poisoning. This is the after effect of walking around in contaminated water for so long.This particular type is called arsenic poisoning Source: http://chandrashekharasandprints.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/poisoning-bangladesh/ 9

Positive effects to flooding

• • Along the way, the flood water picks up soil which it then spreads over the crops when it floods. This soil is rich in important nutrients which are needed for the people to grow their crops.

The deposit of silt has also provided the people with more land to live on.

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Longer term responses

• • • Millions of people were poisoned by Arsenic found in the contaminated flood waters. Eight million bore wells were dug and the sub soil water being pumped out showed to be the real culprit of Arsenic poisoning. UNESCO and WHO, learned about this poisoning and, decided to build fresh water wells so that the people won’t have to drink contaminated water. They were able to provide fresh drinking water to at least 80% of the people living there. The Bangladesh government was given £ 21 million by the UK government to help repair the damage from the flood.

Water purification tablets were brought in by WHO ( world health organisation) 11

Immediate responses

• • • • International food aid programs were set up through out the flooded areas in Bangladesh.

The government distributed free seeds to farmers to try and reduce the impact of food shortages. The government also gave 350,000 tones of cereal to feed the people that were affected.

Volunteers and aid workers, worked to try and repair the damage that was caused by the flood.

Water purification tablets were brought in by WHO ( world health organisation) after having enough money to get them.

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Long term responses

Long term responses

Flood protection shelters for people and animals were raised above the ground.

Flood embankments were built along the river to prevent the water from spreading Upstream dams were proposed Reduce deforestation in head water areas Making emergency flood warning systems to give warnings and sufficient rescue and relief services

Difficulties

They don’t always work and the might break over time The cost for construction was very high 13

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Bibliography

Picture on slide 2: http://www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/images/about/p16204.jpg

Map on slide 3: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/images/thumb/e/ef/Bangladesh_Sea_Level_Ri sks.png/300px-Bangladesh_Sea_Level_Risks.png

Graph on slide 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Bangladesh Diagram on slide 5: http://science.jrank.org/article_images/science.jrank.org/deforestation-and landscape.1.jpg

Picture on slide 6: http://www.global-greenhouse warming.com/images/BangladeshFlood2004.jpg

Picture on slide 7: http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/rio_conventions_calendar/2005/image/pjpeg/rio _calendar2005_intro.jpg

Picture on slide 9: http://chandrashekharasandprints.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/poisoning bangladesh/ Picture on slide 9: Picture: http://www.all-creatures.org/hope/gw/2004-09 13_Bangladesh_flood.jpg

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Bibliography

http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2006/12/flooding-in-ledc-1998-floods-in.html

http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2006/12/flooding-in-ledc-1998-floods-in.html http://hubpages.com/hub/Bangladesh-Floods-1998 http://www.slideshare.net/cheergalsal/flooding-in-bangladesh http://cgz.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cgz/accounts/staff/rchambers/GeoByt es/GCSE/Case%20Studies/Case%20Study.%20Flooding%20in%20Bangladesh.htm

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