Causes and Impacts of Flooding - S. Asia, 2007
- Created by: Sam Bridgwater
- Created on: 09-05-14 12:45
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- Causes and Impacts of Flooding - South Asia, 2007
- Background
- South Asia has a monsoon climate - 80% of rain falls in four months
- Low lying land - Bangladesh, 90% of land is less than 10m above sea level
- Melting snow and ice from Himalayas increase Brahmaputra's discharge
- Causes
- Physical
- Monsoon arrived suddenly after v. dry summer
- V. heavy rainfall, Assam had 900mm of rain in July
- Long duration of rainfall saturated the soil, increasing surface runoff and discharge
- Peak discharges of Rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra coincided
- Human
- Deforestation in Nepal meant less rainfall was intercepted
- Growth of urban areas increased surface runoff
- Physical
- Impacts
- Social
- Over 2000 people died and was so high because many people refused to evacuate
- Lack of clean drinking water due to comtamination - over 100 000 caught water borne diseases
- 25 million made homeless
- Economic
- The cost of the flood was estimated at USD $1 billion
- Factories were closed around Dhaka and many became unemployed
- 550 000 hectares of land couldn't be planted on at peak times due to flooded fields
- Environmental
- Flood depostited fertile silt on the flood plain
- Rivers were polluted by sewage
- Social
- Background
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