 Environment experts Saturday linked floods, droughts, cyclones, tidal surges and river erosion—commonplace in Bangladesh— to climate change caused by global warming. The observation based on available data came amid a warning that natural disasters would be more frequent and severe in future. Prof AQM Mahbub, chairman of the Geography and Environment Science department at Dhaka University, said: "We saw almost all types of natural disasters climate change might cause. We have seen signs of climate change all the year round."
Droughts and floods alternate in Bangladesh. The country saw a spell of drought in January and floods in July, followed by the September deluge that killed 564 people and affected over 10 million others. The floods damaged 63,431 houses and crops on 60,685 acres. As many as 510 educational institutions were totally damaged, according to a government estimate. In the wake of the floods, river eroded lands in much of the country, leaving many people homeless. Cyclone Sidr—the latest in the long line of natural disasters—struck the coast on November 15, killing more than 3,000 people. Earlier 11 depressions formed in the Bay of Bengal this year. Ainun Nishat, country representative of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), told bdnews24.com Sidr that had affected the entire country was triggered by climate change. Nishat said: "Global warming may affect Bangladesh in many ways. Many coastal areas will go under saline water if sea level rises further." Data collected from Coast Trust Bangladesh, an NGO, shows that up to 17 percent of land of Bangladesh would go under water leaving 20 million people homeless if sea level rose by a mere 1 metre. Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Centre for Global Change, said: "We have evidence of climate change. Records of rainfall and temperature of 50 years showed that night temperature in winter rose and the duration of winter shrunk. Rainfall in September and October increased." "In the last four decades, sea temperature rose by 0.6 degrees Celsius, which is not normal," he added.