Bangladesh Case Study - 2004

Bangladesh Case Study - 2004

1. FACTS

   • low-lying country
   • lies on delta land
   • Ganges/Brahmaputra/Meghna
   • Source in Himalayas
   • South East Asia
   • Capital City = Dhaka
   • Pop = 156.6 million

2. Human Factors

   • Rapid deforestation
     • reduce interception
       • evapotranspiration
         • more water reaches quicker
   • Urbanisation
     • CC. Dhaka population 1 million
       • depend on subsistance farming
         • rented plots of land
           • little taxation
             • little money in government
               • rely heavily on foreign aid
                 • for large scale development problems/projects
   • River management difficult to implement in LEDCS
     • GDP per capita $300

3. Physical Factors

   • source of river in Himalayas
     • snowmelt
       • sudden surge of water
         • frozen land acts as lubricant
           • add to discharge
   • Monsoon climate
     • Wet Season
       • May-Sept
     • south winds blow
       • heavy rain to coastal regions
         • Bay of Bengal
   • cyclones
     • high winds
     • heavy rainfall
       • storm surges

4. Social Impacts

   • 36 million made homeless
     • Majority of residents live less than 10m above sea level
   • Mid Sept - death toll 800
     • 100,000 suffer diseases
       • cholera
       • Diarrhoea
       • litte or no access to clean water
   • worst affected areas
     • landless labourers
     • farmers
     • slum dwellers - little drainage systems

5. Economic Impacts

   • serious damage
     • roads/bridges
     • infrastructure
       • drainage/sewage systems
         • irrigation systems
   • ALL domestic+internal flights suspended in July
     • roads and railway links
       • severely affected
         • determent of international business' to set up
   • Value of damage
     • $2.2 billion
       • 4% of 2004 GDP

6. Environmental Impacts

   • July-August
     • 38% land was flooding
       • 800,000 hectares agricultural land
         • Dhaka
   • River bank erosion
     • Embankment areas
       • Main channels
         • soil erosion
         • water logging
         • water contamination