Climate Change, Tropical Storms & Cyclones in Bangladesh by City Tech Blogger Afsana Mimi

The most threatening disasters in Bangladesh are cyclones, drought, storms, and flooding which affect many lives and the economy.

Research has indicated that as the planet’s temperature increases due to global warming and climate change, the warmer sea surface temperatures seem to generate longer and more intense cyclones. According to ocean-climate.org we could very well see more frequent and intense natural disasters as the temperatures rise. As the climate warms, the speed limit of storms and cyclones increases and stronger tropical storms moving more slowly. That means storms last longer in particular areas and dump more rain which causes flooding.

A cyclone is a type of tropical storms which is “formed over the South Pacific and Indian Ocean” (newsround, 2019). On 15^th November, 2007, one of the biggest cyclones, Sidr, affected coastal areas of Bangladesh. Even though my home town was not near the sea, we were affected by Sidr, which had a huge impact on coastal areas in Bangladesh. At that time, I was only 12 years old, and studying in 8^th grade. I could remember the severe winds and heavy rain that damaged many houses, and crops as big trees fell to the ground. Many schools, including my school,  were closed for several days. There was no electricity for many days and almost 15,000 people died and seven million people were harmed by this cyclone (The Telegraph, 2007).  Bangladesh is a developing country. Most of the house structures were not well planned. As a result, when the cyclones hit most homes are completely demolished or heavily damaged. The country not only lacks knowledge of the disasters but it  doesn’t have the right equipment to detect the path of cyclones needed to be able to provide the earliest warning signs of cyclones. As a result, many people die in from being in the path of cyclones. Many people still were not educated in Bangladesh. Some people are still unware about the consequences of disasters.

My major is Applied Mathematics and I want to be an earth data scientist. My main interest is analyzing the data of earth science related to and including natural disasters. By analyzing the data of the amount of damages from previous natural disasters in my country, I hope to be able to tell from the data, the causes, the amount of damages and the most effective way to reduce damages form the disaster.  Bangladesh needs well planned buildings and houses. This country should have good early warning system facilities. The Bangladesh government should raise awareness and offer safety education including what to do and  where to safely stay at time of the disaster.  When it comes to the U.S.A in terms of natural disasters, there are effective, good early warning facilities so people can know a storm is coming and senseless deaths are avoided. The U.S. also has well developed building structures that become less damaged after a storm or cyclone. When Sandy hit the north coastal areas of the U.S.A in 2012, I was in the U.S.A.  U.S.A was able to recover the damages from the hurricane (a tropical storm hits on Northeast Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean areas (newsround, 2019)) so early, but Bangladesh took years to recover from the damages of the cyclone, Sidr.

Reference:

1. What is difference between hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons?, By newsround 10^th August, 2019.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/amp/24879162

2. Climate displacement in Bangladesh, By Environment Justice Foundation.

https://ejfoundation.org/reports/climate-displacement-in-bangladesh

3. Bangladesh Submits its Climate Action Plan Ahead of 2015 Paris Agreement, 25^th September, 2015.

https://unfccc.int/news/bangladesh-submits-its-climate-action-plan-ahead-of-2015-paris-agreement

4. Bangladesh cyclone death toll hits 15,000, By Peter Foster, 18^th November, 2007.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1569832/Bangladesh-cyclone-death-toll-hits-15000.html