A Case Study of Brahmanaria Tornado Mdrezwan Siddiqui* and Taslima Hossain* Department of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, Yunus Centre, Thailand

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ResearchCase Report Article OpenOpen Access Access Geographical Characteristics and the Components at Risk of Tornado in Rural Bangladesh: A Case Study of Brahmanaria Tornado MdRezwan Siddiqui* and Taslima Hossain* Department of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka, Yunus Centre, Thailand

Abstract On 22 March 2013, a tornado swept over the Brahmanaria and Akhura Sadar Upazila (sub-district) of Brahmanaria district in Chittagong Division of Bangladesh and caused 35 deaths. There were also high levels of property damages. The aim of this paper is to present the geographical characteristics of Brahmanaria tornado and the detail of damages it has done. Through this we will assess the components at risk of tornado in the context of rural Bangladesh. Research shows that, though small in nature and size, Brahmanaria tornado was very much catastrophic – mainly due to the lack of awareness about this natural phenomenon. This tornado lasts for about 15 minutes and traveled a distance of 12 kilometer with an area of influence of 1 square kilometer of area. Poor and unplanned construction of houses and other infrastructures was also responsible for 35 deaths, as these constructions were unable to give any kind of protection during tornado. From this research, it has been seen that human life, poultry and livestock are mostly at risk of tornadoes in case of rural Bangladesh. Inhabitants of this region are completely unaware of the life and property saving measures necessary to take during tornado. This tornado caused high level of human death and casualties and it will take a long time for the affected to overcome the losses.

Keywords: Tornado; Risk; Characteristics; Bangladesh; Brahmanaria Methodology Objective The research has done with the combination of two methods. An immediate field visit and survey to the tornado affected villages Key objective of this research is to understand the geographical was done on 26 March, 2013 by the researcher and his team. Several characteristics of a tornado in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, there are interviews were taken to understand experience of the affected people, several tornadoes in different parts of the country. But for the lack of to find out the elements at risks and also the nature of damages done proper source of data and identification system, they remain unnoticed by the tornado. most of the time. The country has no tornado warning system, nor any tracking or measurement system of tornado. As a result, no effort can The tornado track map was created using the local administrative be taken to assess the elements at risk of tornado for the country, for map, Google satellite image and GPS technology during field visit. the lack of proper data. As in Bangladesh, there is no immediate source of tornado track or location primarily the relative location of the tornado was identified A tornado database was developed by Jonathon Finch in 1996 from the situation reports (Figure 1). which was highly generalized and lack of detail information about each tornado in Bangladesh. So, a research like this is hoped to develop a Local cadastral maps (scale 1:50000) were collected and was new way to learn about the tornado in context of Bangladesh [1]. overlapped with Google satellite images. Field maps were prepared with identification of roads, rivers, important landmarks etc. During Introduction the field visit the first attempt was to identify a point or place where Many parts of Bangladesh are regarded as high risk zone for tornado. the tornado was first noticed. As the tornado left a track of damage, we During 1961-1996 local newspapers reported 10,766 tornado deaths. followed this track of damage and identified the tornado track, width, During the thirty five-year period, twenty of 199 tornadoes killed more area of influence and other characteristics of tornado. GPS was used to than 100 people and seven of them killed more than 500 people [1]. On precisely identify the location. Later on, all this data were compiled to an average 179 people dies every year tornado in Bangladesh [2]; most develop the tornado track and map (Figure 1). of which become unnoticed because of highly localized in nature. A violent tornado swept over the eastern part of Bangladesh in *Corresponding authors: MdRezwan Siddiqui, Department of Geography Brahmanbaria Sadar Upazila (sub-district) and AkhauraUpazila (sub- and Environment, University of Dhaka, Yunus Centre, Thailand, E-mail: district) of Brahmanaria Districts on 22nd March 2013. The incident [email protected] occurred around 17:10 hours in local time (GMT +6) and lasts for 15 Taslima Hossain, Department of Geography and Environment, University of minutes [3]. Dhaka, Yunus Centre, Thailand, E-mail: [email protected] The most significant feature of this tornado is there was no past Received July 23, 2013; Accepted August 29, 2013; Published September 04, 2013 record of any tornadoes in Brahmanaria or surrounding areas [1,3]. As a result people of this area didn’t know about the characteristics of Citation: Siddiqui MR, Hossain T (2013) Geographical Characteristics and the Components at Risk of Tornado in Rural Bangladesh: A Case Study of Brahmanaria the tornado and the necessary measure to save their life and properties. Tornado. J Geogr Nat Disast 3: 111. doi:10.4172/2167-0587.1000111

The target of this research is to find out the geographical Copyright: © 2013 Siddiqui MR, et al. This is an open-access article distributed characteristics of the tornado in Bangladesh also point out the elements under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the at risk of tornado in the perspective of rural Bangladesh. original author and source are credited.

J Geogr Nat Disast ISSN: 2167-0587 JGND, an open access journal Volume 3 • Issue 2 • 1000111 Citation: Siddiqui MR, Hossain T (2013) Geographical Characteristics and the Components at Risk of Tornado in Rural Bangladesh: A Case Study of Brahmanaria Tornado. J Geogr Nat Disast 3: 111. doi:10.4172/2167-0587.1000111

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Figure 1: Track and area of influence of Brahmanbaria tornado.

Newspaper reports, situation reports by the government and Local peoples and government officials said that during the tornado different NGO’s were collected and analysed to get the actual figure of the wind speed was up to 70 km/hour (43.5 mile/hour). As there was damages and relief facilities done after the tornado. From the analysis no local weather station, the exact meteorological details of the tornado of damage data, and the field survey the elements at risks of tornado were unknown. According to the wind speed this tornado is within were identified. F0 scale the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale this. In this scale this is the lowest level of tornado [4](Figure 2). Results and Discussion According to the local people before the tornado on March Geographical coverage 22, weather became cloudy suddenly. People thought that, it was a The tornado travels a distance of more than 12 kilometer. The Nor’wester. But when they saw the funnel shaped wind and cloud with tornado begins at Ram rail Village of Ram rail Union and ended at heavy rainfall, they begin to think that it was something different. Ahmedabad Village of North Akhaura Union. The identified villages Damages over which tornado traveled are listed in Table 1. Among them Dubla is damaged most severely followed by Fulbaria and Chinnari among The Brahmanaria tornado is one of the severe disasters in this thirteen villages of six unions reported to be visited by this tornado. region of the country. The total population of these unions are28913, and 8615 have been affected partially or fully, which represents almost As observed from the field survey, the average radius of the 29 percent of the total population of the affected areas (Table 3) [5] tornado on earth surface was sixty to eighty meter. It affected an area of seventeen square kilometer [3], of which around one square kilometer Thousands of trees were uprooted [3], electric lines and poles area was heavily damaged. Anything within this area was devastated. were heavily damaged. Tube wells were damaged and malfunctioned. Almost ninety percent of the causalities occurred within this area of One of the most devastating features of the tornado was, it collapsed influence of the tornado. 200 feet boundary wall and 420 feet of security boundary wall of Brahmanaria District Jail, which was highly fortified. The road and rail Meteorological condition communication was halted for several hours, mainly due to blockage from tree fall.(Figure 3) The regional meteorological condition of affected area on the tornado day (22 March, 2013) and during the tornado is in Table 2. It The most devastating effect of this tornado was the loss of thirty was definitely very high temperature on that day of tornado occurrence. five lives just within fifteen minutes. This was unbearable to the local At noon the average temperature of that area is more than 35°C and it people. The dead bodies were reportedly found ten to thirty meter creates the perfect triggering factor for tornado. away from the original spots [3]. The loss of means of livelihood, like

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Brahmanbaria District, Chittagong Division, Bangladesh completely destroyed. The roofs were blown away, wall collapsed; Upazila Union Village(s) home furniture and utensils were flown away to a further distance. The Ramrail Ramrail brick built buildings were not spared. Most of the brick built houses Sultanpur Fatirhata, Urshiura within the tornado track collapsed partially or fully, causing casualties. Brahmanbaria Sadar Machihata Fulbaria, Chandpur, Chinnari The reason behind this is mainly poor construction. Bhatsala, Basudeb, Jarultola, Dubla, Bashudeb Chandi Elements at risks Bijoynagar Pattan KazlaBil The Brahmanaria tornado caused heavy fatal damages to human and Akhaura North Akhaura Ahmedabad animal life considering its small geographic nature and less intensity. ( Field Survey, 2013), (DMIC, CDMP, MoDMR, 2013) This is because of the completely unawareness of the population about Table 1: Affected villages of Brahmanbaria Tornado. the tornado and the necessary measures to save life from tornado. If those populations were aware of this natural hazard, such devastating Tempera Heat Wind Wind Time (BDT) Humidity Pressure fatalities would never happen. This kind of unawareness about tornado ture Index Direction Speed is very much common in rural Bangladesh. So, human life is top Average of element at risk of tornado in rural Bangladesh [6]. the Day (22 26.0 °C 32.45 °C 83% 1007.29 hPa 13.7 km/h March, 2013) Loss of more than a thousand household livestock and poultry 16:50:00 hours 28.0 °C 31.9 °C 79% 1005 hPa SW 14.8 km/h is a massive economic loss for a rural area in Bangladesh. Peoples 17:50:00 hours 28.0 °C 32.7 °C 84% 1006 hPa South 13.0 km/h livelihood and nutrition supply are dependent on these. So, these are Source: (Weather Underground, Inc., 2013) another most highly risked element for tornado in rural Bangladesh. Table 2: Meteorological condition of the affected area on 22nd March, 2013. The houses were mainly teen shaded with wood and tin wall. There were many brick built houses also. But all these houses were poorly contrasted. Even the brick built houses were devastated by the tornado –as they were not tornado resilient in any way. Moreover there were no underground chambers of houses to take shelter during tornado. So taking shelter within the houses did not help anyone from not getting injured or killed. Electricity supply was great hampered by the tornado, as the polls were weak not tornado resistant. From the field interviews and surveys, we can list following items as at risk of tornado: Figure 2: The Brahmanbaria Tornado. Source: YouTube video [4]. 1. People without awareness about what to do during tornado. Especially women and children Sector of Damage Number 2. Livestock and poultry are heavily at risks Deaths 35 Injured 388 3. All types of houses and other structures like mosques, schools Heavily 1,326 etc.; as those are very poorly constructed. Affected Families Partially 402 4. Electricity, telephone and water services are also vulnerable. Fully 2,635 Destroyed Houses Partially 752 Conclusion Fully 6,630 Affected Peoples Partially 1,985 There is a need of an extensive research to find out the adaptation Fully 173 strategies for tornado in the context of rural Bangladesh. Bangladesh Affected Crops (Acre) Partially 1,112 is a densely populated country and for this reason any tornado with Affected Educational 6 Institutions Affected Religious Institutions 5 Affected Road (km) 2.25 Livestock Death 299 Poultry Death 910 (DMIC, CDMP, MoDMR, 2013)(Islam, 2013) Table 3: Damages done by Brahmanbaria Tornado. crops and livestock or poultry brought further havoc to their miseries. These created a long lasting economic problem for the affected people. Almost 1300 livestock and poultry died in this tornado, which are a major source of income of people living in those villages. Figure 3: Damages done by the Brahmanbaria tornado. In this area, the tin made houses were abandoned which was

Page 4 of 4 small size and intensity can do a much greater loss to life and property Bangladesh: A Case for Introducing Tornado Forecasting and Warning than any other countries in the world. Additionally, development of Systems. University of Colorado. tracking and warning system for tornado is also very important as thus 3. Islam AKMT (2013) The Aftermath of Tornado in Brahman Baria. Dhaka: we can predict the vulnerability of any region and population. CDMP II, Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief. 4. Anulyno (2013) YouTube. References 5. DMIC, CDMP, MoDMR, (2013) Situation Report on Tornado in Brahmanbaria. 1. Finch JD (1996) Bangladesh and East India Tornado Prediction Site Situation Report. Dhaka: Disaster Management Information Centre Ministry of 2. Paul BK, Bhuiyan RH (2004) The April 2004 Tornado in North-Central Disaster Management and Relief. 6. Weather Underground Inc (2013) Weather History for Chittagong, Bangladesh.

J Geogr Nat Disast ISSN: 2167-0587 JGND, an open access journal Volume 3 • Issue 2 • 1000111