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hatrack

(59,446 posts)
Fri Jul 24, 2020, 07:54 AM Jul 2020

W. Record Monsoon Rains Following Amphan, 1/3 Of Bangladesh Now Estimated Under Water

Bangladesh could be plunged into a humanitarian crisis as it undergoes the most prolonged monsoon flooding in decades while it is still recovering from the effects of super-cyclone Amphan. Despite the UN has lauding its new initiatives for early intervention aimed at preparing communities for crisis, 550 people have been killed and 9.6 million affected by the disaster in Bangladesh, Nepal and north-eastern India, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Bangladesh’s ministry for natural disasters has estimated that a third of the country is already underwater, with heavy rains set to continue until the end of July. The UN has estimated that this flooding could be the most protracted since 1988.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, executive director of the Bangladeshi NGO Coast, said the country was far more prepared for flooding than in the past, but that populations in flooded areas might end up in dire need because of a combination of existing localised and national crises. He said incomes had already been hit by the government’s closure of 25 state-owned jute mills, mostly in northern areas that have been flooded, and by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The country has been locked down for four months and that has had a serious impact. Forty per cent of rural income was coming from urban areas and then suddenly labourers and rickshaw pullers weren’t sending money home,” said Chowdhury.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/24/a-critical-situation-bangladesh-in-crisis-as-monsoon-floods-follow-super-cyclone

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