Natural Hazards 11: 247-258, 1995.

247
t~ 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

Disasters in Bangladesh
NEHAL KARIM
Departrnent of Sociology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

(Received: 7 October 1993; revised: 9 November 1994)

Abstract. This paper deals with various types of natural disasters which occur very frequently in
Bangladesh. Disaster can occur at any time, in any place, in any dimension, and may owe as much to
the circumstances as to the scale of the event. With the exception of the man-made disaster of war,
famine, fire, pollution, accident and civil strife, the worst disasters follow natural events.
Bangladesh is widely known as a land of natural disasters and is highly vulnerable to flood, cyclone
and river erosion. By the effects of these disasters the country is now permanently in distress. These
disasters have become a regular phenomenon and cause suffering to millions of people of the country
since many decades. Besides, it also focuses on policy options concerning disaster management.

Key words, disaster, vulnerability, Bangladesh

1. Introduction
Bangladesh (143,998 km 2) is one of the least-developed countries of the world. It
suffers from many problems, such as geomorphological and political instabilities,
over-population (about 120 million; high density 762 per km2), rapid population
growth (2.35), low agricultural growth (Ajker Kagoj, 1992). Besides these, it is
orten affected by seiles of natural disasters including cyclone, flood, tornado,
drought, river-bank erosion and occasional earthquake.
Before entering into the main theme, I intend to discuss the term 'Disaster'
theoreticaUy. However, there are significant differences in the definition and usage
of the term by various organizations, institutions and individual experts both in
Bangladesh and elsewhere. Disaster can be defined "as an event, concentrated in
time and space, in which a society or a community undergoes severe dangers and
incurs such losses to its member and physical appurtenances that the social struc-
ture is disrupted and the fulfillment of all or some of the essential functions of the
society is prevented" (Fritz, 1961).

2. Geographical Setting
Bangladesh is in part of the humid tropics, with the Himalayas lying to the north
and the funnel-shaped lowing coast touching the Bay of Bengal in the south. This
has formed the mouth of the world's largest river delta draining the Ganges, the
Brahmaputra, the Meghna, their tributaries and distributoiles. This particular
geography of Bangladesh produces not only the life-giving monsoons but also the
248 NEHAL KARIM

catastrophic ravages of cyclones, floods, tornadoes, droughts, river-bank erosions

and earthquakes. The entire coastal area of the country, with its numerous oft-
shore islands which are continuously in the process of formation, standing barely
about 9 meters above the sea level and separated by sea arms, tidal inlets, creeks
and extensive mud flats, is particularly open to the fury of a cyclone.

3. A Review of Disasters
Bangladesh has been affected by various kinds of disasters (Figure 1). Records
say that a great storm took place in 1584 affecting the southern district of Barisal
(Haider et al., 1991) and since then various kinds of disasters took place that have
taken away millions of human lives, properties, livestocks, crops and thus caused
colossal economic losses.

3.1. Cyclones
Every year, there are some eighty tropical cyclones occurring around the globe,
out of which about four forms in the Bay of Bengal (Crane, 1988). Bangladesh is
one of the most cyclone-prone areas of this region. Cyclonic storms are frequent
in the Bay of Bengal, though major cyclonic events are fortunately rare. However,
during the last two decades, these have been responsible for causing death to
millions of people, considerable loss to agriculture and damage to infrastructure
in the coastal areas. Table I shows the major cyclones which occurred during the
existence of the 21 years of Bangladesh with loss of lives and properties.
The cyclone that crossed the Bangladesh coast during the night of 29 April 1991
can only be described as a 'Super Cyclone'. On this day, the country was hit by
one of the most severe cyclones of this century that killed nearly 140,000 people
and injured more than 138,849 (Choudhury, 1992). Table II gives an account of
the damages to the country as a whole.
After the 'Super Cyclone' another cyclone of medium intensity crossed Bangla-
desh coastal areas in the early hours of 2 June 1991.

3.2. Flood
Bangladesh experiences flood almost every year. In fact, flood has become a
regular feature in this riverine country. The major floods that attracted interna-
tional attention occurred in 1987 and 1988. Serious floods also occurred in 1984,
1980, 1977, 1974. Table III shows the floods scenario in Bangladesh during the
last 17 years.
Though monsoon rains are the major causes of flooding, other important factors
like rapid run-off, the effect of the confluences of the major rivers, the rat
topography of the delta and surges in the Bay of Bengal are also responsible for
such flooding. Four types of natural floods are seen in the country between April
DISASTERS IN BANGLADESH
249
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250 NEHAL KARIM

Table 1. Cyclones affecting Bangladesh since 1970 with (estimated) loss of life

Date Max wind speed Storm surge height Nurnber of deaths

(~r~) (m)
07 May 1970 - 3-5 -
23 Oct. 1970 - - 300
12 Nov. 1970 223 6-9 500,000

03 May 1971 - 2.5-4 -

30 Sept. 1971 - 2.5-4 -
06 Nov 1971 - 2.5-5.5 -

18 Nov. 1973 - 2.5-4 -

09 Dec. 1973 122 1,5-7.5 183
15 Aug. 1974 97 1.5-6.5 -

28 Nov. 1974 162 2-5 a few

21 Oct. 1976 105 2.5-5 -
13 May 1977 122 - -

10 Dec. 1981 97 2 2
15 Oct. 1983 97 - -
09 Nov. 1983 122 - -

03 June 1984 89 - -
25 May 1985 154 3-4.5 11,069
29 Nov. 1988 162 1.5-3 2,000

29 April 1991 225 6-7.5 140,000

02 June 1991 100 2 -

Source: Chowdhury (1991).

and October every year. These are: (i) flash flood, (ii) river flood, (iii) rain water
flood and (iv) storm surge flood (Brammar and Khan, 1991).
Flood causes great disruption and damage to infrastructure, and loss of crops
and other properties. However, the flood of 1988 has been the worst in the living
memory of the people, causing untold miseries in vast areas of the country,
disruption of road and railway communication, breaches in embankments damage
to regulators, bridges and culverts, etc. Table IV, shows the loss and damage
caused by the 1988 flood.
On the other hand, there is little evidence of any significant negative effects on
aggregate annual agricultural production. In fact, major floods are typically fol-
lowed by bumper harvests, due to increased watet retention and combined efforts
of all concerned to increase production. Floods indirectly contribute to the concen-
tration of land ownership and wealth to a few fortunates as the marginal and small
landowners who, lacking resources and other predicaments, are unable to obtain
credit, are forced into distress selling. Their land is purchased by rieb landowners
who then make profit ffom the subsequent bumper production and post-flood
credit facilities available.
DISASTERS IN BANGLADESH 251
Table II. Cyclone-damage report 1991
Indicators Number
Total affected districts 16
Completely 11
Partially 5
Total affected thanas (sub-districts) 81
Total affected municipalities 6
Total human death 140,000
Total population injured 138,849
Total affected population 12 million
Total population missing 2,295
Total crops damages
Fully 47,673 ha
Partly 320,494 ha
Total food grain loss 350,000 MT
Total educational institutions
Damage (fully or partly) 9,287
Primary schools 5,148
Secondary schools 1,693
Madrasas 2,298
College 120
University I
Training institutes 24
Education offices 3
Total houses damaged
Fully 840,000
Partly 910,000
Total hectare of plantation damage 24,291 ha
Total livestock loss
Cattle head 224,000
Goats and sheep 218,000
Poultry 2.4 million heads
Total physical infrastructure damage
Embankments 435.9 km
Drainage channels 972.6 km
Rural roads 2,350 km
Bridges/Culverts 6,000 road feet
Total number of tube-weil damaged/
gone out of order 84,362
Source: (1) Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, Govt. of Bangladesh.
(2) Report of Joint GOß and UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Cyclone
Rehabilitation and Reconstruction submitted to ECOSOC Meeting of Un-
ited Nations in July 1991.
252 NEHAL KARIM
Table III. Flood-affected areas since 1971
Year Flood-affectedarea Percentageof the
(sq.m.) total area
1971 36,475 25.33
1972 20,800 14.44
1973 29,900 20.76
1974 52.720 36.61
1975 16,590 11.52
1976 28,418 19.73
1977 12,548 8.71
1978 10,832 7.52
1980 33,077 22.97
1982 3,149 2.19
1983 11,112 7.72
1984 28,314 19.66
1985 11,427 7.93
1986 4,589 3.19
1987 57,491 39.92
1988 122,000 60.00
Source: Mian (1988).

3.3 Tornadoes
Tornadoes are more destructive than cyclones but fortunately it strikes much
smaller areas than cyclones. It covers width of a few hundreds of meters and travel
over a distance of up to 10 km. The central region of Bangladesh covering the
districts of Dhaka, Faridpur and Jessore are relatively more affected by tornadoes,
which occur during the summer months of March to June when the weather
generally remains hot and humid.
On May 26, 1989 a severe tornado had hit the Manikganj district of Bangladesh.
The tornado is considered to be one of the most terrible natural cälamities in
recent years. Saturia was one of the thanas (sub-districts) of the Manikganj district
that was affected most. The extent of damage wrought by this tornado was very
great. A total of 153 villages in 4 thanas (sub-districts) were severely affected,
A r o u n d 90 percent of the households were destroyed, 800 people killed and 2,000
people injured (Kafiluddin, 1991). A significant portion of crops grown and other
assets were also damaged by this tornado leaving serious crisis for the poor.

3.4. Drought
Drought is one of the worst forms of a slow onset natural disaster. Other than
the climatic change and short rainfaU, almost every year the entire south-western
part of the country covering greater Kushita, Jessore, Faridpur, Barisal and Khulna
districts are worst hit by drought following the withdrawal of the Ganges water
DISASTERS IN BANGLADESH 253
Table IV. An estimate of damage due to the 1988 flood
Indicator Magnitude
Affected districts 52 (out of 64)
Affected tlianas (sub-districts) 318 (out of 460)
Affected area 84,059 (km2) (58.4% of the total area)
Death: by fiood 1,410
By diarrlioea 387
Affected people 30 million
Marooned people 5 million
Crop damage:
Full 3.97 million ha
Partial 3.19 million ha
Seed bed damage 13.00 ha
Loss of cattle heads 172,000
Road damage: paved 2,935 km
Earthen 65,892 km
Bridge/Culvert damage 2,754
Affected railway
Meter guage 359 km
Broad guage 279 km
Affected rail bridge
Meter guage 28
Broad guage 6
Education institutions
Damage: full 1,367
Partial 7,114
Source: Ahmed (1989).

Table V. Droughts in Bangladesh

Year Number of affected persons
1972 NA*
1978/79 2,000
1982 2
1989 50,000
*Not available.
Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
(1990) and Centre for Research on the Epi-
demiology of Disasters (1990) Belgium.

by India at Farakka Barrage. Bangladesh has experienced many droughts before

and after its independence. The distressing drought of 1989 (Table V) added a
new dimension to the situation already desperate. The drought went on from mid-
April and the spell continued unabated till end of May when a devastating tornado
hit Manikganj.
254 NEHAL KARIM

The drought of 1989 has been the longest in the last 46 years of Bangladesh.
Drought is generally followed by famine, causing severe damage and loss in
agricultural production. It also brought the normal flow of life almost to a stand-
still.

3.5. River-Bank Erosion

River-bank erosion causes massive loss of property, including land and physical
infrastructures which render people destitute virtually overnight. It has been esti-
mated that a million people are directly affected by erosion every year (Elahi et
al., 1987). River-bank erosion creates the main threat to embankments; it also
accounts for a major hazard for towns situated along the major rivers (such as:
Sirajganj, Chandpur and Sandiwp). Usually it occurs during the period from May
to October every year. The most critical consequence of river activity is the
physical destruction of land, homesteads, and other property.

3.6. Earthquakes
An earthquake is one of the most terrifying natural disasters. A large number of
casualities are the direct effect of total or partial collapse of buildings, debris
flows, landslides, etc. Earthquake induces fires, floods from collapsed dams or
river protective works, release of hazardous substances or gases, etc.
Unlike other natural disasters, earthquakes do not occur frequently in Bangla-
desh; but it is not uncommon here. On June 12, 1989, Bangladesh experienced
an earthquake, which killed a child and injured 20 people. Besides, two-thirds of
the country including the Dhaka city were hit by a mild tremor lasting for 23 to
50 seconds (Kafiluddin, 1991); though the Dhaka city felt the quake rnildly, it
shook many parts of Bangladesh, i.e., Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Bogra, Sherpur,
Rangpur, Gaibandha, Faridpur, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Khulna, Patuakhali and
Naogaon.

3.7. Socio-Economic Consequences

The socio-economic consequences of disasters have a tremendous impact, both
short-term and long-term on the socio-economic structure of the country. In a
predominantly agricultural economy, the death of large numbers of livestock and
poultry also compel many rural poor people to embark on the declining trajectory
of indebtedness possibly resulting in eventual destitution (Bhaduri, 1983). Equally,
damages to standing crops also led to consequential loss of other assets through
indebtedness, usufructury mortgage and, in some cases, eventual sale of land,
mortgage as collateral because of debt default. Cyclone, flood, river erosion and
other disasters cause substantial destruction of physical infrastructure and land by
which many of the poor people become destitute overnight. Only a small pro-
DISASTERS IN BANGLADESH 255
portion of the affected people are able to migrate to urban areas in search of food
shelter and employment (Sangbad in 1990). Besides these, lack of communication
and proper logistic supports, affected people do not get pure water, food, shelter,
medicine and other relief materials in time. Among them, women and children
are usually the most helpless and disadvantaged. Especially, destitute women
without any employment are compelled to migrate to urban areas where they
face acute, physical and social insecurity. However, in the patriarchal society of
Bangladesh, women are traditionally discouraged from voicing their demand for
rightful dues (Adnan, 1990).
Disasters in Bangladesh have made a serious dent in the national economy. For
example, the total cost of reconstruction and rehabilitation of the physical and
social infrastructure in the 1988 flood has been estimated at 4.4% of our GDP.
The total loss of the catastrophic cyclone of April 29, 1991 has been estimated at
US$ 2.4 billion, apart from, short-, medium- and long-term reconstruction would
cost Bangladesh about 1.8 billion US dollars (Workshop 1992 and Table VI).
Moreover, lost output, budgetary strains, adverse balance of payment impli-
cations and reduced investment prospects were amongst the most severe macro-
economic impacts of the last cyclone. According to the United Nations Trade and
Development Report (1991), it was viewed that even if the economy of Bangladesh
were above to sustain a growth rate of around 3.5%, it would require nearly 6
years to recover from the direct and indirect losses caused by the cyclone of April,
1991.

4. Conclusions
From the above discussion, it can be said that disasters are accounted significantly
for major setbacks to the process of local and national development. Not only
cyclones and flood, river-bank erosion, earthquake and other disasters cause heavy
loss of life, property but also cause damage to infrastructure and disrupt develop-
ment efforts and economic growth. In Bangladesh resources are limited and
government is forced to divert its limited resources, earmarked for overall develop-
ment activities to unproductive expenditure required for the disaster response,
(i.e. relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure). However, the
Government of Bangladesh has taken an elaborate and comprehensive action plan
to cope with different kinds of disasters in order to reduce loss of human lives,
properties and other losses. Towards the end of April, 1993 the Government has
established the Disaster Management Bureau (DMB), with the following aims and
objectives:

(i) promoting disaster prevention/mitigation and preparedness with all agencies

and at all levels of government;
(il) providing guidelines, organizing training and promoting the preparation of
disaster plans; and
256 NEHAL KARIM
Table VI. Estimates for costs of repair and reconstruction by sector, 1988 (in US$ million)
Sector Immediate Long-term Total
US$ million US$ million US$ million
Agriculture 34.6 133.4 168.0
Crops 24.4 91.2 115.6
Livestock 2.0 11.9 13.9
Fisheries 0.7 3.1 3.8
Forestry 2.8 0.0 2.0
Food 4.7 27.2 31.9
Flood control/irrigation 53.8 72.8 126.6
Roads and highways 39.8 125.0 164.8
Road and highways department 25.5 97.6 123,1
Local government 11.8 4.7 7.2
Technical assistance 2.5 4.7 7.2
Railroads 28.9 52.3 81.2
Inland waterways and ports 4.6 16.3 20.9
Civil aviation 7.0 36.0 43.0
Posts and telecommunication 23.2 78.2 101.2
Power and eleetricity 8.8 46.6 55.2
Bangladesh Power development board 6.7 35.1 41.8
Rural electrifieation board 2.1 11.3 13.4
Industry 124.4 100.8 225,2
Public infrastructure 1.2 2.3 3.5
Small and cottage industries 75.5 70.7 146.2
Medium and large industries 47.7 27.8 75.5
Health 16.7 21.0 37.7
Education 58.0 0,0 58.0
Rural water and sanitation 3.2 0.0 3.2
Urban infrastructure 21.5 30.4 51.9
Local government 20.3 28.6 48.9
Technical assistance 1.2 1.8 3.0
Grand total 424.5 718.6 1,137.1
Source: Report of the Task Force of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
United Nations on the 1988 Floods; I November 1988 (upgraded February, 1989).

(iii) o p e r a t i o n o f t h e n a t i o n a l e m e r g e n c y o p e r a t i o n c e n t r e ( c o n t r o l r o o m ) at
t h e t i m e o f disaster.

I m p r o v e m e n t o f p e r f o r m a n c e in d i s a s t e r m a n a g e m e n t is e s s e n t i a l for e c o n o m i c as
weU as h u m a n i t a r i a n r e a s o n s . T h e v a r i o u s a s p e c t s o f d i s a s t e r m a n a g e m e n t , includ-
ing p r e v e n t i o n / m i t i g a t i o n , p r e p a r e d n e s s , e m e r g e n c y r e s p o n s e a n d r e h a b i l i t a t i o n ,
etc. also influence v a r i o u s d e v e l o p m e n t efforts to m i n i m i z e t h e loss in r e s o u r c e s ,
b o t h h u m a n a n d n a t u r a l . F o l l o w i n g suggestions m a y b e c o n s i d e r e d as p o l i c y
o p t i o n s for i n t e g r a t i o n into t h e d e v e l o p m e n t i n t e r v e n t i o n s :
(a) d i s a s t e r p r e p a r e d n e s s s h o u l d start a b o t t o m - u p a p p r o a c h , b y giving d u e
p r i o r i t y to t h e c o m m u n i t y l e v e l p r e p a r e d n e s s ;
DISASTERS IN BANGLADESH 257
(b) necessary administrative and financial allocations should be made for disas-
ter preparedness activities;
(c) an effective coordination mechanism between the government, local institu-
tions, international agencies and the Private Voluntary Development Organiza-
tions (PVDO) or NGO's should be established during the pre-disaster phase of
disaster preparedness as weil as for response;
(d) public awareness should be created to motivate people to face such disasters
on their own in future;
(e) mitigation measures need to be monitored and evaluated on daily basis to
take appropriate decisions;
(f) adequate arrangements should be made to procure and deliver food, water,
medicine including development of communication systems for immediate re-
sponse during disaster;
(g) credit and income-generating schemes can be introduced for disaster affec-
ted people; specially for women who are forced to take up anti-social activities to
prevent them to migrate, mortgage or seil out their land and livestock;
(h) personnel involved in emergency operation should be appropriately oriented
towards the scientific concept of disaster management.
(i) political commitment is vital to the initiation and maintenance of mitigation;
and
(j) during the post-disaster period, all the national and international donor
agencies should be requested to offer aid relief according to the needs of the
affected country.

Lastly, it can be concluded that though various kinds of disasters have become a
part of Bangladesh's culture, therefore, a comprehensive disaster management
policy should be formulated and implemented as early as possible. The policy-
makers of the government should be alert to the needs and dimensions of a long-
term strategy of pre-disaster planning; such a long-term strategy should emphasize
affected people's empowerment to meet and survive disasters, as weil as help
direct activities for reasonable disaster preventing or mitigation. However, the
country has come a long way in its efforts to design and plan an effective and
comprehensive disaster management system, some progress has been made, al-
ready. The above suggestions, if incorporated in the national policy process, may
help to reduce, to a great extent, the scale of human miseries, loss of lives and
properties, resources and other infrastructure of the country.

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