Causes, Effects and
Responses to the 1998
Floods in Bangladesh.
By: Christina McConney MYP1
1
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/300pxBangladesh_Sea_Level_Risks.png
Washout: the topography clearly shows why Bangladesh
floods so regularly
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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-greenhousewarming.com/images/BangladeshFlood2004.jpg
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Primary effects
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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
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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
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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/
Shopping became very
difficult, almost impossible.
Source:
http://www.allcreatures.org/hope/gw/2004-09-
g
13_Bangladesh_flood.jp
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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)
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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.
12
Long term responses
Long term responses
Difficulties
Flood protection shelters for
people and animals were
raised above the ground.
Flood embankments were
They don’t always work and
built along the river to prevent the might break over time
the water from spreading
Upstream dams were
proposed
The cost for construction was
very high
Reduce deforestation in head
water areas
Making emergency flood
warning systems to give
warnings and sufficient
rescue and relief services
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Bibliography
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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-andlandscape.1.jpg
Picture on slide 6: http://www.global-greenhousewarming.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/poisoningbangladesh/
Picture on slide 9: Picture: http://www.all-creatures.org/hope/gw/2004-0913_Bangladesh_flood.jpg
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Bibliography
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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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