Group DiscussionFaculty: Prof. Dr. Md. Anisur Rahman Khan

(ARK)

Dept. of Environmental Science & Management (DESM), North South University

Course: ENV-107Section: 00

Group Members Group no-01

Name : ** PIPU ID:**

Natural Calamities In Bangladesh AndSTRATEGICS HOW TO SOLVE IT

What is natural Calamities?

• Any event or force of nature that has catastrophic consequences, such as

earthquake, flood, forest fire, tropical cyclone hurricane, drought, tornado,

tsunami, and volcanic eruption.

Types of natural Calamities in Bangladesh:

Flood:

• Most familiar natural calamity in Bangladesh

• Caused by heavy showers of rains in the rainy season

• Rivers and canals cannot hold excessive water within and overflow their banks and cause flood

• Causes a great havoc to life, property and crops, roads, streets and even homes go under water

• People becomes homeless and take shelter on house tops trees, boats and embankments

Flood(cont…..)

Floods of 1970, 1988,1994, 1998 and 2004 were most terrible in Bangladesh history

Maps showing Flood affected Areas in 1998 & 2004:• Flood affected areas in 1998

• Flood affected areas in 2004

Cyclone:• hits our land almost every year in summer or in

late autumn

• caused by the low depression created due to the intensive heat of the sun in the Bay of Bengal

• destroys almost everything that comes within its sweep

Cyclone:(cont…..)

• In 1991, Bangladesh was attacked by terrible cyclone accompanied by tidal bore.

• In 2007, a most devastating cyclone calls ‘sidr’ swept over the coastal belts of Bangladesh and caused untold destruction to life and property. Total damages came close to $450 million.

Drought:• Bangladesh is one of the wettest countries on Earth, but it is suffering

in drought

• occurs in summer

• causes damage to crops almost every year

• chopping of trees at random is the main cause of drought

River erosion:• Silent calamity

• Erosion involves the wearing away of rock and soil found along the river bed and banks

• Around 10,000 hectares land is eroded by river and affecting 1 million people on a yearly basis in Bangladesh

Factors That Accelerate Erosion:

• Stream bed lowering or in fill

• Flooding of bank soils followed by rapid drops in flow

• Saturation of banks from off-stream source

• Redirection and acceleration of flow within the channel

• Poor Soil Drainage

• Wave Action

• Excessive Sand/Gravel Extraction

• Intense Water from Rainfall

Erosion:(cont…..)

• About 5 percent of the total floodplain of Bangladesh is directly affected by erosion

• Nilphamari, Kurigram, Borguna, Patuakhali, Faridpur, Rajbari, Sariatpur, Madaripur, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajgonj, Jamalpur, Tangail, Pabna,Munshiganj, Chadpur are most affected area

Earthquakes:

• Another common natural disaster that can cause many fatalities. The movements of the plates in the earth’s crust cause earthquakes

Bangladesh can be divided into three main earthquake zones:

• Zone-1:Syleht-Mymensingh is with the possible magnitude of 7 on Richter scale

• Zone-2 :Chittagong-Comilla-Dhaka and Tangail are with the possible magnitude of 6 on Richter scale

• Zone-3:Rest of the country is with possible magnitude of 6 on Richter scale

There are also different natural calamities occur in Bangladesh like-heavy storm, landslides, extreme temperature, rain with hail or hail-storm etc.

Causes of natural calamities:• world climate is changing rapidly day by bay with a negative effect for human

habitation on earth

• change in climate is giving rise to a dreadful effect called green house effect

• green house effect is increasing the heat in the atmosphere and releasing poisonous gas that is most dreadful for human as well as other living beings. This gas is largely being emitted by the industrially developed countries of the world. They are emitting this gas more than 70-80 times of the developing countries like ours. The result is that we, the people of developing countries, are getting victims year after year and suffering deadly with the loss of heavy tools of lives and properties

• Deforestation

Effects of natural calamities:• Great loss of animal, plant and human life

• People get hurt by or buried under fallen debris

• Destruction and damage to buildings

• Disruption of communication and transport

• Disruption of civic amenities like electricity, water, telephones etc.

• Large-scale fires

• Floods in certain areas

• Landslides in hilly areas

Effects:(cont…..)• Population displacement

• Health risks

• Food scarcity

• Emotional aftershocks

• Breakdown of law and order

• Widespread panic and loss of morale

• Exposure to disease and danger of epidemics

Strategies to solve this problem:• Rivers should be dredged regularly

• More rivers and canals should be excavated

• More sluice gates and outlets should be constructed at strategic points

• People should be made aware of the adverse effects of deforestation and good effects of planting more and more trees

• Environment should be kept free from different kinds of pollutions

• Industrial developed countries should check the unwise and selfish activities of emitting green house gas

Strategies:(cont…..)• Government of the victim countries should come forward and

come to a negotiation with the governments of the industrially advanced countries

• Our govt. Should take active steps to reach an amicable settlement with India and Nepal for the prevention of floods

• Our government should also make massive precautionary measures about the upcoming disasters beforehand

• Permanent relief found should be maintained to help the victims

• Our governments and people of all walks of life should come forward to help the victims in all possible ways