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Natural disaster Flood of Bangladesh



Flood is a regular natural disaster occurring in Bangladesh and thus entailing huge damage to the economy. On average, approximately one quarter of the country is inundated. Once in every 4-5 years, however there is a severe flood that may cover over 60% of the country and cause loss of life and substantial damage to infrastructure, housing, agriculture and livelihoods. In the last 25 years, Bangladesh has experienced five severe floods (Table 2.1), the most damaging one being in 1998 covering more than two-thirds area of the country.

Table 2.1: Severe floods in last 25 years
Event
Impact
1987 flood
Inundated over 50,000 sq. km, estimated damage US$ 1 billion, 2055 deaths.
1988 flood
Inundated 61% of the country, estimated damage US$ 1.2 billion, more than 45 million homeless, between 2,000-6,500 deaths.
1998 flood
Inundated nearly 100,000 sq.km, rendered 30 million people homeless, damaged 500,000 homes, heavy loss to infrastructure, estimated damage US$2.8 billion, 1,100 deaths
2004 flood
Inundation 38%, affected nearly 3.8 million people, estimated damage over US$2 billion, 700 deaths.
2007 flood
Inundated 32,000 sq. km, over 85,000 houses destroyed and almost 1 million damaged, approximately 1.2 million acres of crops destroyed or partially damaged, estimated damage over US$ 1 billion, 649 deaths.