Cyclone Nargis: What Are the Lessons from the 2004 Tsunami for Myanmar’S Recovery?
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2.Conference-APP Disaster Impact on Sundarbans
IMPACT: International Journal of Research in Applied, Natural and Social Sciences (IMPACT: IJRANSS) ISSN(P): 2347-4580; ISSN(E): 2321-8851 Special Edition, Sep 2016, 5-12 © Impact Journals DISASTER IMPACT ON SUNDARBANS - A CASE STUDY ON SIDR AFFECTED AREA MOHAMMAD ZAKIR HOSSAIN KHAN Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies, Dhaka University, Bangladesh ABSTRACT The primary indicators of environmental sustainability is the biodiversity and its conservation stated by Kates et al. (2001), whereas the assessment of biomass and floristic diversity in tropical forests has been identified as a priority by many international organizations stated by Stork et al. (1997). Cyclone ‘Sidr’, a tropical cyclone, was one of the biggest cyclones in the history of Bangladesh, formed in the central Bay of Bengal hit the coast of Bangladesh in 2007 and it made landfall on 15th of November with peaking wind speed of over 260 km/h. It resulted in an estimated 4,000 human deaths and the displacement of over 3 million people stated by US Embassy Dhaka (2007). The most significant devastating impact it left behind is on the diversity of flora of the Sundarbans. One quarter of the biomass cover (which is approximately 2500 sq. km) of the Sundarbans mangrove forest was damaged by the storm directly or indirectly due to the tidal surge stated by CEGIS (2007). The study shows that the total forest area damaged by the cyclone Sidr was about 21% of the Sundarbans. It was found that highly affected forest areas were dominated by Keora ( Sonneratia apetala ). Trees of Keora are comparatively taller more than 15 m and grow on newly accreted forest land. -
Cyclone Disaster Vulnerability and Response Experiences in Coastal
Cyclone disaster vulnerability and response experiences in coastal Bangladesh Edris Alam Assistant Professor and Disaster and Development Centre Affiliate, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh and Andrew E. Collins Reader in Disaster and Development, Disaster and Development Centre, School of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, United Kingdom For generations, cyclones and tidal surges have frequently devastated lives and property in coastal and island Bangladesh. This study explores vulnerability to cyclone hazards using first-hand coping recollections from prior to, during and after these events. Qualitative field data suggest that, beyond extreme cyclone forces, localised vulnerability is defined in terms of response processes, infrastructure, socially uneven exposure, settlement development patterns, and livelihoods. Prior to cyclones, religious activities increase and people try to save food and valuable possessions. Those in dispersed settlements who fail to reach cyclone shelters take refuge in thatched-roof houses and big-branch trees. However, women and children are affected more despite the modification of traditional hierarchies during cyclone periods. Instinctive survival strategies and intra-community cooperation improve coping post cyclone. This study recommends that disaster reduction programmes encourage cyclone mitigation while being aware of localised realities, endogenous risk analyses, and coping and adaptation of affected communities (as active survivors rather than helpless victims). Keywords: coastal and island people of Bangladesh, coping, cyclone vulnerability, local response Introduction With the effects of natural hazards rising in terms of loss of life and injuries in poorer nations (ISDR, 2002; World Bank, 2005; CRED, 2007), institutional disaster reduction approaches (ISDR, 2004; UNDP, 2004; DFID, 2005) and approaches adaptable to individual social and livelihood experiences are required. -
Drew University College of Liberal Arts Analyzing Community-Based
Drew University College of Liberal Arts Analyzing Community-based and Centralized Approaches to Natural Disaster Management: A Comparative Case Study Analysis in Southeast Asia A Thesis in Environmental Studies and Sustainability by Brett Cheadle Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor in Arts With Specialized Honors in Environmental Studies and Sustainability May 2021 Abstract Tropical cyclones are among the worst of natural disasters that occur on a regular basis, affecting millions of people annually. Although not all regions experience the threat of intense cyclonic events, certain regions are highly susceptible to the devastating effects that are present with these storms. With the growing concern regarding climate change, vulnerable countries are forced to examine disaster management policy and analyze the potential risks associated with natural disasters and how they could impact populations in an altered climate going forward. This paper addresses the mechanisms that were in place in the disaster management efforts in Bangladesh and Myanmar and to what extent they were effective in reducing risk for vulnerable populations. A comparative case study analysis was conducted using Cyclone Sidr which struck Bangladesh in 2007 and Cyclone Nargis which impacted Myanmar in 2008, both occurring within a relatively similar time frame. The contrasting disaster management approaches of top-down and bottom-up approaches were identified and results indicate that the community based approaches appeared to be more effective in reducing risk for vulnerable populations, yet a wide variety of attributable factors were also uncovered in this study. Table of Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………1 2. Literature Review………………………………………………..6 a. -
Field Surveys of Recent Storm Surge Disasters
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Procedia Engineering 116 ( 2015 ) 179 – 186 8th International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts (APAC 2015) Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, India. Field Surveys of Recent Storm Surge Disasters Tomoya Shibayama* Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Director, Complex Disaster Research Institute Waseda University, Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan Abstract In these ten years since 2004, there were more than ten big disasters in coastal area including six storm surge events and five tsunami events. The author performed post disaster surveys on all these events as the team leaders of survey teams. Based on those experiences, the author describes lessons of these events. Tsunami is now generally well known to coastal residents. Evacuation plans gradually become common for tsunami disasters. Storm surges arise more frequently due to strong storms but coastal residents are not well protected and not informed how to evacuate in case of surge emergency. From the field surveys conducted, it appeared that the damage depend on the geographical and social conditions of each of the areas that were visited by the author. It is now clear that such issues play important roles in disaster mechanisms. Therefore disaster risk management should carefully include local topography and social conditions of each area during the formulation of disaster prevention plans. In order to establish a reliable disaster prevention system, appropriate protection structures should be constructed, and these should be accompanied by a clear and concise evacuation plan for residents of a given area. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. -
Country Report: Bangladesh
The 5th International Coordination Group (ICG) Meeting GEOSS Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI) Tokyo, Japan, 15-18, December 2009 Country Report: Bangladesh Monitoring and forecasting of cyclones SIDR and AILA Colonel Mohammad Ashfakul Islam Engineer Adviser Ministry of Defence Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh Introduction • Bangladesh is a deltaic land of about 144,000 sq. km area having great Himalayas to the north and the vast Bay of Bengal on the south. • It is a South Asian country extending from 20° 45' N to 26° 40' N and from 88°05' E to 92°40' E belonging to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). • It has a complex coast line of about 710 kms and long continental shelf with shallow bathymetry. • The Bay of Bengal forms a funneling shape towards the Meghna estuary and for that the storm surge is the highest here in the world. • Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) is the national meteorological service in Bangladesh under the Ministry of Defence of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh is mandated for cyclone forecasting. • Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) under Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) forwards cyclone warning bulletins to 42,675 coastal volunteers for saving coastal vulnerable people. Position of Bangladesh in the World Map and in the Asia Map Bangladesh Topography of Bangladesh • Land elevation of 50% of the country is within 5 m of MSL - About 68% of the country is vulnerable to flood - 20-25% of the area is inundated during normal flood Bangladesh is the most disaster prone area in the world. -
Manual on Cyclone
Scope of the Manual This manual is developed with wider consultations and inputs from various relevant departments/ministries, UN Agencies, INGOs, Local NGOs, Professional organizations including some independent experts in specific hazards. This is intended to give basic information on WHY, HOW, WHAT of a disaster. It also has information on necessary measures to be taken in case of a particular disaster in pre, during and post disaster scenario, along with suggested mitigation measures. It is expected that this will be used for the school teachers, students, parents, NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, and practitioners in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction. Excerpts from the speech of Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations Don’t Wait for Disaster No country can afford to ignore the lessons of the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti. We cannot stop such disasters from happening. But we can dramatically reduce their impact, if the right disaster risk reduction measures are taken in advance. A week ago I visited Chile’s earthquake zone and saw how countless lives were saved because Chile’s leaders had learned the lessons of the past and heeded the warnings of crises to come. Because stringent earthquake building codes were enforced, much worse casualties were prevented. Training and equipping first responders ahead of time meant help was there within minutes of the tremor. Embracing the spirit that governments have a responsibility for future challenges as well as current ones did more to prevent human casualties than any relief effort could. Deaths were in the hundreds in Chile, despite the magnitude of the earthquake, at 8.8 on the Richter Scale, the fifth largest since records began. -
UNDP Myanmar Responds to Cyclone Nargis
UNDP Myanmar responds MATTERS OF FACT to Cyclone Nargis • 40 UNDP and its implementing partner NGO PACT offices in the Ayeyarwady Delta UNDP moved into action within 24 hours after Cyclone • 23 field teams active in the worst affected areas Nargis hit Myanmar on 2-3 May. The storm carved a • 500 national staff and project personnel working in the path of destruction that left 133,653 dead or missing delta and being mobilized for Cyclone Nargis response and 2.4 million severely affected by the crisis. operations • 5 UNDP offices functioning as ‘base camp’ for UN The cyclone’s 120-mile per hour winds and resulting organizations and international NGOs delivering to, and storm surge were particularly devastating in the working in Bogale, Mawlamyinegyun, Labutta, Ayeyarwady Delta, where entire villages were flattened. Ngapudaw and Kyaiklat • 2.4 million people severely affected by Cyclone UNDP is the only UN organization with field offices Nargis across Myanmar located in the region, which, prior to the cyclone was • 1.4 million people affected in the Ayeyarwady delta, home to seven million people. UNDP staff and families the hardest hit region of Myanmar experienced the natural disaster first-hand, as did those • 43,241 estimated total beneficiaries from UNDP coordinated relief efforts as of 21 May who work for partner non-governmental organization (NGO) PACT, which lost five of its project personnel. Supporting relief efforts: UNDP sent rotating teams UNDP has 40 functioning field offices in the delta and of national staff to work with and relieve its field staff in current field staff strength of more than 500 five of the affected townships – Bogale, experienced national staff and project personnel, Mawlamyinegyun, Labutta, Ngapudaw and Kyaiklat – including those of PACT. -
Bangladesh Cyclone Sidr Was the Second Occasion Habitat for Humanity* Responded to a Natural Disaster in Ban- Gladesh
Habitat for Humanity: The Work Transitional Shelters As480 of December 2008 Latrines As480 of February 2009 A Day in November On 15th November 2007, Cyclone Sidr bore down on southern Bangladesh, unleashing winds that peaked at 250 km. per hour and six-meter high tidal surges that washed away entire villages. Cyclone Sidr killed over 3,000 people, a fraction of the more destructive cyclones that struck in 1970 and 1991 which claimed more than 600,000 lives. But that was still too many. According to reports from the worst hit areas, many of the dead and injured were crushed when trees fell onto poorly constructed houses made of thatch, bam- boo or tin. Others drowned when they, together with their houses, were swept away by the torrents of water. TANGAIL Tangail 15 Nov 18.00 UCT Wind Speed 190 kmph INDIA DHAKA SHARIATPUR BANGLADESH MADARIPUR Madaripur GOPALGANJ Madaripur Gopalganj BARISAL INDIA SATKHIRA Bagrthat JHALAKTHI BAGTHAT Pirojpur PATUAKHALI PIROJPUR KHULNA BHOLA Mirzagani Patuakhali Barguna BARGUNA Bay of Bengal Badly Affected Severely Affected Most Severely Affected Storm Track Worst Affected BURMA 0 50 100 Km TANGAIL Tangail 15 Nov 18.00 UCT Wind Speed 190 kmph INDIA Extent of DHAKA the Damage SHARIATPUR BANGLADESH MADARIPUR More than eight million people in 31 districts were Madaripur reportedly affected by Cyclone Sidr. More than 9,000 GOPALGANJ Madaripur schools were flattened or swept away, with extensive Gopalganj damage reported to roads, bridges and embankments. BARISAL Some two million acres of crops were damaged and INDIA SATKHIRA Bagrthat JHALAKTHI over 1.25 million livestock killed. -
Application of Remote Sensing and Gis for Cyclone Disaster Management in Coastal Area: a Case Study at Barguna District, Bangladesh
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Science, Volume XXXVIII, Part 8, Kyoto Japan 2010 APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS FOR CYCLONE DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN COASTAL AREA: A CASE STUDY AT BARGUNA DISTRICT, BANGLADESH Md. Sohel Rana1, Kavinda Gunasekara2, Manzul Kumar Hazarika2, Lal Samarakoon2 and Munir Siddiquee1 1GIS Unit, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Dhaka, Bangladesh emails: [email protected], [email protected]. 2GeoInformatics Center, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] KEYWORDS: Cyclone, Disaster, Hazard, Vulnerability, Risk, Storm surge model, DEM. ABSTRACT Bangladesh is one of the top vulnerable countries to the climate change and the adverse impact on the country will be catastrophic because of convergence of climate change, poverty and large population. The frequency of natural disasters like floods, cyclones etc have increased significantly over the last decade particularly in the coastal line of Bangladesh which is asserted as the impact of climate change. The consequences of these disasters are a huge loss of lives and properties that implicates the economy of the country. So disaster management is now an important concern to minimize all those losses. Disaster management of an event like Cyclone, Flood or Earthquake etc. requires some ingredients, such as, response, incident mapping, establishing priorities, developing action plans and implementing the plan to protect lives, property and the environment. GIS in combination with Remote Sensing (RS), can be used very effectively to identify hazards and risk for cyclone. In Bangladesh, cyclone and tidal surge are considered as the most catastrophic phenomena for coastal regions. -
UK Aid in Burma
UKAID In BUrmA What is international development? also renewed the government’s International development is about commitment to increase UK aid to helping people fight poverty. Thanks 0.7% of national income from 2013. to the efforts of governments and people around the world, there are What is the Department for 500 million fewer people living in International Development? poverty today than there were 25 The Department for International years ago. But there is still much Development (DFID), leads the UK more to do. government’s fight against world poverty. 1.4 billion people still live on less than $1.25 a day. More needs to Since its creation in 1997, DFID has happen to increase incomes, settle helped more than 250 million people conflicts, increase opportunities for lift themselves from poverty and trade, tackle climate change, improve helped 40 million more children to people’s health and their chances to go to primary school. But there is get an education. still much to do to help make a fair, safe and sustainable world for all. Why is the UK government involved? Through its network of offices Each year the UK government helps throughout the world, DFID three million people to lift themselves works with governments of out of poverty. Ridding the world developing countries, charities, of poverty is not just morally right, non‑government organisations, it will make the world a better businesses and international place for everyone. Problems faced organisations, like the United by poor countries affect all of us, Nations, European Commission and including the UK. Britain’s fastest the World Bank, to eliminate global growing export markets are in poor poverty and its causes. -
D. Numerical Experiments for Tropical Cyclones D-1. Forecast Experiment with a Nonhydrostatic Model and Simulation of Storm Surge on Cyclone Nargis1 D-1-1
TECHNICAL REPORTS OF THE METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE No.65 2012 D. Numerical experiments for tropical cyclones D-1. Forecast experiment with a nonhydrostatic model and simulation of storm surge on cyclone Nargis1 D-1-1. Introduction Severe meteorological phenomena such as tropical cyclones (TCs) sometimes cause catastrophic damage to human society; therefore, their prediction is significantly important for preventing and mitigating meteorological disasters. In the areas around the Bay of Bengal, historically, there have been several cases in which storm surges induced by TCs gave rise to severe floods (Webster 2008). At the end of April 2008, cyclone Nargis was generated in the center of the bay and moved eastward in contrast with typical northward motion of cyclone of the bay such as the 1970 Bohla cyclone or the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone. Nargis reached its maximum intensity of category 4 around 06–12 UTC on 2 May, then it made landfall in southern Myanmar, and caused a destructive storm surge over the Irrawaddy Delta and other low-lying areas that claimed more than one hundred thousand lives. Figure D-1-1 shows the development of Nargis estimated by the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) New Delhi and the US Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). The minimum center pressure by JTWC was 937 hPa, while the RSMC New Delhi estimated its intensity as 962 hPa. For disaster prediction and mitigation in these areas, forecasts of TCs and the associated storm surges based on numerical weather prediction (NWP) are particularly important. In this study, numerical simulations of the 2008 Myanmar cyclone Nargis and the associated storm surge were conducted using the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) Nonhydrostatic Model (NHM; Saito et al. -
Full Version of Global Guide to Tropical Cyclone Forecasting
WMO-No. 1194 © World Meteorological Organization, 2017 The right of publication in print, electronic and any other form and in any language is reserved by WMO. Short extracts from WMO publications may be reproduced without authorization, provided that the complete source is clearly indicated. Editorial correspondence and requests to publish, reproduce or translate this publication in part or in whole should be addressed to: Chairperson, Publications Board World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 7 bis, avenue de la Paix P.O. Box 2300 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland ISBN 978-92-63-11194-4 NOTE The designations employed in WMO publications and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WMO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WMO in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in WMO publications with named authors are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of WMO or its Members. This publication has not been subjected to WMO standard editorial procedures. The views expressed herein do not necessarily have the endorsement of the Organization. Preface Tropical cyclones are amongst the most damaging weather phenomena that directly affect hundreds of millions of people and cause huge economic loss every year. Mitigation and reduction of disasters induced by tropical cyclones and consequential phenomena such as storm surges, floods and high winds have been long-standing objectives and mandates of WMO Members prone to tropical cyclones and their National Meteorological and Hydrometeorological Services.