Climate Change Rears Its Ugly Head In Bangladesh

 

BANGLADESH

When the Waters Come

The Ganges Delta, the largest in the world at 41,000 square miles, empties into the Bay of Bengal. The worst flood in 20 years recently inundated it, displacing millions in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries on the planet.

NASA developed an amazing multimedia story that showcased before and after photos of the flooding, which has covered around a quarter of Bangladesh. The agency estimated four million people have been affected due to the waters. About 100 died. Crops on around 600 square miles of farmland have been destroyed.

Meanwhile, the monsoons that have dropped torrents of rain that feeds those floods are forecasted to continue through early August, the Washington Post reported.

The devastation in Bangladesh has been stunning. Bangladeshi leaders have been trying to prepare for such a disaster. But many of the country’s dikes and embankments had been damaged during Cyclone Amphan in May. It typically takes around four years for the South Asian country to rebuild those defenses after a powerful cyclone.

Climate change is expected to make future disasters worse. If global temperature increase by around 2 degrees Celsius, flooding along the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh is projected to increase by 25 percent, according to a study cited by the New York Times. Temperatures going up by 4 degrees Celsius would result in 60 percent more flooding.

The flooding and worrisome numbers come as Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is juggling a host of other problems that entail other short-term emergencies in addition to flooding, medium-term challenges like lifting millions from poverty and diversifying the economy from textiles, and long-term goals such as balancing the influence of China and India on the country.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s healthcare sector is struggling to avoid collapse while fighting the coronavirus. The Turkey-based Anadolu Agency wrote about the plight of Bangladeshi doctors who are treating increasing numbers of patients and more Covid-19 cases not only without adequate protection equipment but food to sustain themselves.

An inspiring Al Jazeera story featured a cohort of female textile workers, tea pickers and refugees who were attending a local university in hopes of seeking new careers in business. But the program helps less than 500 women, a small group in a country of more than 160 million.

Still, Bangladesh’s economy and regional clout are growing, the Hindustan Times wrote. Traditionally close to India, the country has been playing China off against Indian officials who recently enacted a law to make it harder for Bangladeshis and other Muslims to earn Indian citizenship, Deutsche Welle explained.

Even so, with problems on all fronts, it’s hard to tell where Hasina should start, once the waters recede.