Essay on Flood In Bangladesh

Flood In Bangladesh Term Papers

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Floods in Bangladesh


Introduction:

Water and water

Water every where.

There is no piece of land to stand.

This is the flood scenery of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a small and low laying country. But it has a lot of rivers and canals (about 334). So flood visits in this country almost every year and Bangladesh is well familiar with flood. It is a natural calamity. It is almost an annual affair in Bangladesh. We have been living with flood for centuries and suffer every year.


What is flood?

When the rivers and canals are pregnant with water and overflow its bank and submerge land, then we called its flood


Time of flood:

The month of June and July is the main time of flood in Bangladesh. This time the south west monsoon is blown over Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal and brings heavy rains.


Type of Flood:

Every year, almost one-third of Bangladesh is flooded. Because of topographical characteristics, the regions of the country experience varied degrees of flooding. There are two types of floods occur in Bangladesh.



I. Annual floods (Barsha):

This type of flood inundate up to 20% of the land area of Bangladesh. Some parts may be under deep floodwater, but others area unaffected by this flood. It is a normal flood and known as borsha in Bangladesh. Generally it is associated with monsoon rains that occur between June and October. The people of Bangladesh adjust to it as a part of life.


II. Abnormal floods (Bonna):

It is low frequency flood and inundates more than 35% to 75% of the area of Bangladesh.It is known as bonna to Bangladeshi people and occur once every few years. It is unpredictable, so inundate houses and cause serious losses to life and property.


Scenery of Flood:

In the flooding time water gather every where. People are busy to find out a higher ground. Some one takes shelter in high road, school building or make bamboo shed. The sky becomes dark with dense cloud and its raining heavily most of the time. People can not communicate with other. In the flooding time, we can only hear the water sound. Some people become busy catching fish. The field looks like sea. Most of the deaths are caused by snakebite, because snakes gather every where. People are anxious about it. The poor people have no bound of sorrow. The worsening state of floods in the country clearly calls for an intensification of relief efforts.


A family tries to shift by a Vela Poor people are waiting for relief.

Causes of flood:

Causes of flood are many. It is mainly causes by heavy showers of rain. Rivers and canals can not carry the sea rapidly. So there is a sudden increase of water in the rivers and canals which overflow their banks causes flood.

Some main causes had indicated in this picture.


Foods may also be caused by cyclones, tidal bores or the melting of snow on mountains.

There are many rivers and canals in our country. Most of the rivers and canals are about to die. They have no water flow in summer season. The depth of the rivers became very low and when a large amount of water come in the rainy season, the river can not contain the water. This over flows water makes a large flood every year.

Bangladesh is very prone to flooding due to its location at the confluence of the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers. On average, annual floods inundate 20.5 per cent area of the country and this can reach as high as about 70 per cent during an extreme flood event. Global warming caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect is likely to have significant effects on the hydrology and water resources of the rivers (Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna) basins and might ultimately lead to more serious floods in Bangladesh.(In the picture that is indicated).


 Other causes:

 (a) Rising of the sea-level:

All rivers ultimate destination is ocean. The land elevations are measured with respect to the sea level in an area. So any change in the sea level causes land elevations to change as well. At the present time the sea level is rising globally. If the sea-level rises in an area at rates faster than the rates of land aggradations due to sedimentation, then land elevations decreases over time. Any decrease in land elevations can cause increased inundation by rivers overflowing at bank full stage. The rate of local relative sea-level rise is 7 mm/year in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. According to a study, the local relative sea level at Chittagong Port has increased by as much as 25 cm between 1944 and 1964. The relative sea level in the Bay of Bengal is predicted to rise 83 to 153 cm by the year 2050. An increase in the sea level raises the base level of rivers, which in turn reduces the gradients of river flow. As a consequence, the amount of river discharge decreases, creating a backwater effect further inland. The backwater effect caused by sea-level rise can result in more flooding of lands from "piled up" river water inland. This certainly seems to be one of the contributing factors for the increased flooding intensity in Bangladesh.


 (b) Inadequate sediment accumulation:

When sediment accumulation rates are not greater than the rates of local relative sea-level rise, then flood will submerse the land. Limited data show that the average sediment accumulation rates in the coastal areas of Bangladesh is 5-6 mm per year for the last few hundred years, which is not enough to keep pace with the rising sea level at 7mm per year. As a result, land elevations must have been decreasing over time in Bangladesh and resulting in more flooding inundation. So sediment accumulation is responsible for floods in Bangladesh.

.

 (c) Riverbed Aggradations:

Riverbed aggradations are one of the basic cause floods in Bangladesh. In the recent years riverbed has aggraded as much as 5 to 7 meters in the most of big rivers. The average width of the Padma has decreased from 1.27 to 1.01 km in the years of 1973 to 1985. Riverbed aggradations are serious problem for Bangladesh. For example: The Old Bhamaputra River was navigable for 30 years ago. Now it is an abandoned channel. This situation is true for other rivers of Bangladesh, such as the Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Madhumat, Bhairab, Chitra, Gorai etc.




 (d) Unplanned road construction:

The road network around Bangladesh has also a lot to blame for our flooding problems. We can see that in the last few decades the road network had increased hugely around Bangladesh, but the government has gone about building roads without any planning, study and research. The result is that there is little or no drainage around for the roads built around the country. Water cannot drain out in a few days, now or last week. So floodwater cannot be drained out extensive new roads network. For this reason, flood water gone new area.


 (e) Global warming:

Global warming is one of basic cause of flood. The world is warming day by day and the sea level may rise about 30cm after 30 years. Some experts has predicted that the middle of next century the Green House Gases (GHG) will warn the humid tropical region by 0.3 to 50cm and the major effects of climate would changes. These will result larger area being subject of Flooding.


 (f) Deforestation in the upstream region:

Deforestation is another cause of flood in this country. It is assumed to lead to accelerated soil erosion and landslides during monsoon precipitation, which in turn is believed to contribute to devastating floods in the downstream regions, such as in Bangladesh. The amount of forest cover in Bangladesh was reduced from 15.6% in 1973 to 14.6% in 1985-86, and eventually to13.4% in 1987. A minimum of 25% forest cover is suggested for a healthy ecosystem. The amount of forest cover in Bangladesh at the present time believed to be less than 10%.So the weather becomes worming and we are facing such kind of flood every year.

Recent floods:

Bangladesh has faced with a terrible flood at 2007.After the 1988 and1998 flood, this flood is the biggest flood of Bangladesh. The flood of 1988 had broken all the recodes of losses, but the flood experts are saying that the flood of 2007 has gone near to the 1988 floods.


Geographical map of the flood of 2007




Flood Affected Districts, People and Areas of 2007


Flood Affected

Districts Flood Affected

People Flood Affected

Area (sqkm)

Bagerhat 1516820 4011

Barguna 845060 1521

Barisal 2348440 2541

Bhola 1703200 2999

Bogra 3015400 2916

Brahamanbaria 2240300 1916

Chandpur 1941200 1697

Chittagong 5550120 4697

Chuadanga 1005180 1144

Comilla 4494340 3095

Dhaka 6966680 1461

Dinajpur 2640940 3458

Faridpur 1742720 2033

Feni 1205980 914

Gaibandha 2129700 2172

Gazipur 2023260 1762

Gopalganj 1151800 1482

Habiganj 1750180 2582

Jamalpur 2106040 2060

Jessore 2469680 2585

Jhalokati 692680 741

Jhenaidah 1568440 1960

Joypurhat 856560 965

Khulna 2357940 4221

Kishoreganj 2557240 2554

Kurigram 1762920 2245

Kushtia 1737360 1661

Lakshmipur 1486540 1412

Lalmonirhat 1104360 1231

Madaripur 1129940 1140

Magura 821840 1045

Manikganj 1301900 1393

Maulvibazar 1608860 2695

Meherpur 497600 720

Munshiganj 1289100 947

Mymensingh 4460120 4339

Naogaon 2385900 3430

Narail 694900 983

Narayanganj 2170740 756

Narsingdi 1901840 1165

Natore 1517000 1905

Netrakona 1971240 2810

Nilphamari 1562160 1649

Noakhali 2570640 2946

Pabna 2164960 2394

Patuakhali 1391760 3090

Pirojpur 1099780 1267

Rajbari 952280 1141

Rajshahi 2274340 2432

Rangpur 2527060 2306

Satkhira 1845120 3808

Shariatpur 1080680 1247

Sherpur 1267940 1318

Sirajganj 2673060 2495

Sunamganj 1990360 3682

Sylhet 2547320 3419

Tangail 3261600 3362


Bangladesh is facing this situation every year and we have nothing to do, so we can sing the folk song by Jasimuddin:

(amay bhasaili rey

amay dubaili rey

akul dariyar bujhi kul nairey)

In English

(You've set me adrift

You’ve sunk me

The endless waters have no shore)


Misery of the flood victims:

The distress of the...

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