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30/12/2007

Global warming intensifying natural disasters in Bangladesh

Storms batter Bangladesh every year. Cyclone Sidr killed more than 4,000 people in November, 2007, causing a loss of over us $900 million. It triggered 5-metre high waves that devastated coastal areas, displacing over 2 million people

The worst cyclone was in 1970 which killed more than half a million people. Another one in 1991 killed about 150,000

Experts earlier predicted many climate change-related problems in the delta of Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna: reduced fresh water availability, surface drainage congestion, sealevel rise, increased floods and coastal storms and forced mass displacement

Natural disasters have damaged up to 100 km inland in the country's coasts and the catastrophes are expected to accelerate with sealevel rising

undp 's latest report says more than 70 million people in Bangladesh are under threat from global warming-related flooding

On average, annual floods inundate 20.5 per cent of the country; this can reach about 70 per cent during extreme floods

Bangladesh suffered two major floods in July and August, 2007. According to the department of agriculture, recent floods have affected 39 of the 64 districts in the country, completely damaged 360 thousand hectare (ha) of rice-land and partially affected 180 thousand ha, causing an estimated 0.85 million tonnes loss in rice production

The loss from the floods is estimated to be at us $500 million in paddy, at about us $157 million in roads and bridges, at us $107 million in houses