Flooding in ELDCs – Learner activity
Flooding
Choosing a flood prevention strategy
Instructions

Arrange learners into groups of three or four and provide each learner with an article related to flood
response.

The learners read the articles, highlighting the content in three different colours representing strategies
which require local, national or international input.

The learners then take turns to report their findings to a partner within the group on a one-to-one basis
until all learners have shared their findings with each other. On completion each member should have
an understanding of the key points within all of the articles.

Learners use the knowledge they have gained to create a mind map showing how different strategies
and groups are interconnected, and any positives and negatives to each proposed solution.
Supporting materials
The articles below are examples of the information which can be provided to learners. You can create further
articles of your own by adapting information from sources such as:

The Guardian: Bangladesh communities show how they adapt to climate change http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/apr/05/bangladesh-communitiesadapt-climate-change

The Washington Post: In Flood-Prone Bangladesh, a Future That Floats
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602582.html
Example article 1 (adapted from New Wider World Foundation Edition)
There is no easy solution to flooding in Bangladesh. The enormous size of the problem, the extreme poverty
of the country and the difficulty in identifying the exact causes of flooding make the task almost impossible.
However, in 1989 the Flood Action Plan (FAP) was set up. This was supported by several wealthy countries
and many international agencies, including the World Bank. The scheme contained 26 action points and cost
billions of dollars. Much of the money has been spent on building embankments and dredging major rivers to
make them deeper. Dams have also been built to control river flow and hold back the monsoon rainwater in
rivers.
Strategies include:

Diverting water away to drier areas

Moving homes to safer land wherever possible

Building 5000 flood shelters in areas most at risk

Building coastal defences to keep the sea out

Educating people on what to do before, during and after a flood

Warning people when flooding is about to happen

Heightening and strengthening existing embankments.
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/readyforemergencies
Flooding in ELDCs – Learner activity
Flooding
Example article 2 (adapted from New Wider World Foundation Edition)
In 1989 the Flood Action Plan (FAP) for Bangladesh was set up. Not everyone agrees with the FAP as there
is a concern that actions like building embankments and deepening rivers could create worse flooding
downstream. There is a worry that embankments will reduce access to rivers for fishermen and that a
shortage of money would see only urban areas getting help, leaving the countryside in trouble. The scheme
will take years to construct and will require constant maintenance.
Other smaller and less expensive solutions to the problem of flooding in Bangladesh have been proposed.
Most of these use appropriate technology which meets the needs of local people and the environment in
which they live. They are also sustainable (improve the quality of peoples’ lives without wasting resources or
harming the environment). Examples of these include:

Building flood embankments from local materials to protect key urban areas such as Dhaka, the
country’s capital

Building large numbers of flood shelters for people, their belongings and livestock

Providing better prediction and warnings of floods using satellites and early warning systems

Preparing emergency services for quick and effective help during and after a flood.
Example article 3 (adapted from http://education.staffordshire.gov.uk)
Flood management strategies can be useful in the short term as a means of dealing with the immediate
emergency, and in the longer term to help to prevent further damage during flood events. Examples include:
Short-term flood management strategies

Provision of boats to rescue people

Provision of emergency supplies for food, water, tents and medicines

Provision of fodder for livestock

Repairing and rebuilding houses and infrastructure such as sewage systems and roads

Provision of aid from other countries.
Long-term flood management strategies

Reduce deforestation in Nepal and the Himalayas

Build seven large dams in Bangladesh to store excess water (costing $30-$40 million and taking 40
years to complete

Build 5000 flood shelters to accommodate the whole population

Build 350km of seven meter high embankments (costing $6 billion) to reduce flooding along the main
river channels

Create flood water storage areas

Develop an effective flood warning scheme.
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/readyforemergencies