Causes/Impacts of Flooding. Case Study 1 - South Asia, 2007.

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  • Created by: charlia
  • Created on: 14-04-15 17:02

Causes/Impacts of Flooding. Case Study 1 - South Asia, 2007.

Causes

  • Monsoon came suddenly after a very dry, early summer
  • Heavy rainfall - Assamhad a record 169.5mm in 24 hours on 22nd July
  • Long duration of heavy rainfall completely saturated the soil
  • The peak discharges of the River Ganges and Brahmaputra coincided increasing discharge downstream
  • Melting snow/ice from the Himalayas increased river discharge
  • Deforestation in Nepal and the Himalayas
  • Urbanisation due to migration
  • Collapse of old earth dams in India caused further flooding

Effects

  • Social: Over 2000 people died, many reluctant to evacuate, children couldn't swim, poor transport links
  • Over 100,000 caught water-borne diseases
  • 25 million made homeless
  • Dhaka (Bangladesh's capital) was inundated
  • 4000 schools effected, 44 destroyed
  • Economic: US$1billion
  • Factories closed around Dhaka, many became unemployed
  • Loss of livestock. 80% of Bangladeshi's rely on agriculture
  • Lower rice crop meant world price of basmati rise rose 10%

Overall summary

Human factors made the overall impacts worse. Bangladesh is a poor country so there aren't many flood defences or warning systems/ Low incomes, few savings and a lack of insurance made it hard for people to recover. Corrupt officials diverted aid money away from people most in need. 

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