Many parts of South Asia flood anually due to monsoon climate (80% of rain in 4 months)
Bangladesh is a lowlying country – 90% less than 10m below sea level
10% of the land is covered in water (bodies of water e.g. lakes, swamps, etc)
Snowmelt from the Himalayas in the late summer increases discharge
July & August of 2007 had particularly severe floods
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Physical causes
Monsoon came suddenly after a period of dry weather
Heavy rainfall - Assam had a record 169.5mm in 24hrs on 22nd of July (900mm in total for July)
Soil was saturated - increasing surface runoff and discharge
Peak discharge of two major rivers - River Ganges and Brahmaputra - combined which increased the river's discharge downstream
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Human Causes
Deforestation in Nepal and the Himalayas - less interception and more discharge
Urbanisation - due to migration - increased the number of impermeable surfaces and surface runoff increased
Collapse of old earth dams in Madhya Pradesh, India, caused furthur flooding
LEDC therefore it could not afford warning or prediction systems
Corruption - aid money diverted away from those that really needed it
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Social Impacts
Over 200 people died - not many people wanted to evacuate their farms, children drowned as they cold not swim & poor transport links meant that evacuation was slow
Wells became polluted with sewage - over 100 000 people caught water bourne diseases
25 million homeless
112 000 houses destroyed in India
4000 schools affected and 44 destroyed - children lost out on education
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Economic Impacts
Cost = USD$ 1 billion
Factories closed around Dhaka & loss of resources - the poorest people became unemployed
Widespread loss of livestock - 80% of the country relies on agriculture
550 000 hectares of land could not be planted with rice - world prices of basmati rice rose over 10%
10 000km of roads destroyed
Debt increased both for individuals and for the country
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Environmental Impacts
Deposited fertile silt (alluvium) on the flood plain
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