Bangladesh Cyclones
The deadliest tropical cyclone on record was the 1970 Bhola Cyclone that hit the Ganges Delta of Southeast Asia. The death toll from this storm is officially listed as 550,000 people. Most people died from the 15-20 foot storm surge that flooded the highly populated and flat, low elevation land. Peak winds from this storm are estimated at 120 mph. This is a storm that ranks as one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, but it also led to the formation of a new nation. At the time the storm struck, this land was part of Pakistan, an area known as East Pakistan. After the storm, the response of the Pakistani government was so poor that it was a major contributing factor that lead to the Bangladesh Liberation War in the spring of 1971. The area is now known as the country of Bangladesh, an area that is ripe for disaster.
Path of the 1970 Bhola Cyclone
History is important here, because for the first time in over a decade, a tropical cyclones is threatening Bangladesh. Cyclone Sidr is a big one, category 4 with winds to 140 mph. This has the potential to be a huge news story in the coming days, because Bangladesh has a history of deadly storms, and it has not been hit in over a decade. Bangladesh is a low lying, highly populated country that is extremely vunerably to a storm surge. The triangular shape of the Bay of Bengal funnels the storm surge into Bangladesh and the shallow bay allows the storm surge to pile up. A cyclone in April 1991 which killed 140,000 people brought a 30 foot storm surge to the coast near Chittagong, and surges up to 40 feet are possible. Of the 13 deadliest cyclones in history, nine of them have occured in Bangladesh. They have had 5 storms with death tolls over 100,000 people, compare that to Hurricane Katrina where under 2,000 people died... unimaginable disasters.
Category 4 Cyclone Sidr in the Bay of Bengal
Posted by
on 11/14 at 07:34 PM
