Question

composition- "Floods in Bangladesh"

Answer 1

Bangladesh is a low lying country and almost all of Bangladesh lies on
the largest delta in the world. It is situated between the Himalayas
and the Indian Ocean with a vast river basin made up of the Ganges,
the Brahamaputra, the Meghna and their tributaries. It also has the
highest population density in the world with 847 inhabitants per
square kilometer.

Bangladesh is one of the world's least developed countries and prone
to natural disasters, such as cyclones, floods and droughts. Half of
it is less than five meters above sea level. Therefore any change in
the earth’s temperature that causes the level of the oceans to rise
would seriously affect the flooding of the delta area of Bangladesh.

A fifth to a third of the country is annually flooded by the river
Ganges and there are many factors both human and physical which
encourage the river Ganges and Brahmaputra to overflow its river
banks. The obvious physical cause of flooding in Bangladesh is that
about 90% of the land is below sea level, therefore any changes in the
sea level would cause serious problems for Bangladesh.

The problem concerning Bangladesh is that most of the land is only a
few feed above water and very unstable. No amount of river control can
change this. To alleviate the impact of flooding Bangladesh’s only
choice has to be severe population controls to reduce the density of
people on this land and also to encourage a movement away from the lowest lying areas.

The floods that took place in 1954, 1961, 1968, 1974, 1985, 1988, 1998, created much havoc. But havoc created by most devastating flood of 1988 beggars description. It surpassed all the previous records of losses and distresses.


Hope it helps!