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This is a list of disasters and tragic events in Bangladesh sorted by death toll.
Throughout history, Bangladesh has been attacked by various types of natural disasters. Most of the natural disasters happen during May to July.
| Type of disaster | Name | Location | Deaths | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyclone | Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 | Coast of Backerganj | 200,000 | 1876 | |
| Cyclone Storm | Bengal | 200,000+ | 1897 | A cyclone with a storm-surge of 12.2 metres (40 ft) hit Meghna River estuary near Chittagong, Barisal, and Noakhali. Casualty is about 200,000. The storm also caused epidemic and famine, and vast property damage. | |
| Cyclone Storm | 1970 Bhola cyclone | Bhola | 500,000+ | 12 November 1970 | Entire coast of Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan) |
| Cyclone | 1991 Bangladesh Cyclone | Chittagong | 138,866 | 1991 | A cyclone hit the coastal islands and chars near Patuakhali, Barisal, Noakhali and Chittagong. Maximum wind speed reached 110 km/h. The storm surge was 1.9 metres. |
| Industrial disaster | 2013 Rana Plaza collapse | Dhaka | 1,134 [1] | 24 April 2013 | Collapse of the Rana Plaza, Savar Upazila, Dhaka District, Bangladesh |
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most-populous country in the world, with a population of around 169 million people in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world, and shares land borders with India to the west, north, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast; to the south it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor; and from China by the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language is Bengali, one of the easternmost branches of the Indo-European language family.
A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are routinely divided into either "natural disasters" caused by natural hazards or "human-instigated disasters" caused from anthropogenic hazards. However, in modern times, the divide between natural, human-made and human-accelerated disasters is difficult to draw.
The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan and India's West Bengal on November 12, 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the world's deadliest natural disasters. At least 300,000 people died in the storm, possibly as many as 500,000, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. Bhola was the sixth and strongest cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season.
The 1991 Bangladesh cyclone was among the deadliest tropical cyclones on record. Forming out of a large area of convection over the Bay of Bengal on April 24, the tropical cyclone initially developed gradually while meandering over the southern Bay of Bengal. On April 28, the storm began to accelerate northeastwards under the influence of the southwesterlies, and rapidly intensified to super cyclonic storm strength near the coast of Bangladesh on April 29. After making landfall in the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 250 km/h (155 mph), the cyclone rapidly weakened as it moved through northeastern India, degenerating into a remnant low over the Yunnan province in western China.
Meherpur is the northwestern district of Khulna Division in southwestern Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian state of West Bengal to the west, and by the Bangladeshi districts of Kushtia and Chuadanga to the east. Pre-independence Meherpur was a subdivision of Nadia district. The district has an area of 716.08 square kilometres (276.48 sq mi).
The years before 1890 featured the pre-1890 North Indian Ocean cyclone seasons. Each season was an event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation. The North Indian tropical cyclone season has no bounds, but they tend to form between April and December, peaks in May and November. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northern Indian Ocean. Below are the most significant cyclones in the time period. Because much of the North Indian coastline is near sea level and prone to flooding, these cyclones can easily kill many with storm surge and flooding. These cyclones are among the deadliest on earth in terms of numbers killed.
Bangladesh, being situated on the Brahmaputra River Delta is a land of many rivers, and as a result is very prone to flooding. Due to being part of such a basin and being less than 5 meters above mean sea level, Bangladesh faces the cumulative effects of floods due to water flashing from nearby hills, the accumulation of the inflow of water from upstream catchments, and locally heavy rainfall enhanced by drainage congestion. Bangladesh faces this problem almost every year. Coastal flooding, combined with the bursting of river banks is common, and severely affects the landscape and society of Bangladesh. 80% of Bangladesh is floodplain, and it has an extensive sea coastline, rendering the nation very much at risk of periodic widespread damage. Whilst more permanent defenses, strengthened with reinforced concrete, are being built, many embankments are composed purely of soil and turf and made by local farmers. Flooding normally occurs during the monsoon season from June to September. The convectional rainfall of the monsoon is added to by relief rainfall caused by the Himalayas. Meltwater from the Himalayas is also a significant input.
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) sometimes called disaster risk management (DRM) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them. The most commonly cited definition of Disaster risk reduction is one used by UN agencies such as United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): "The conceptual framework of elements considered with the possibilities to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout a society, to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) the adverse impacts of hazards, within the broad context of sustainable development."
The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society is a humanitarian organization and auxiliary to the Government of Bangladesh. The organization was established in 1973 as the Bangladesh Red Cross Society through the Presidents Order 26. It changed its name to Bangladesh Red Crescent Society in 1988 while the country adopted Islam as the constitutional religion. It has its headquarters in Dhaka and also has 68 Units. A Unit is constituted in each of the 64 districts and in the Metropolitan cities of Dhaka. Chittagong, Rajshahi & Khulna. The society has played an instrumental role in relief and rehabilitation during floods, cyclones and other natural disasters which are frequent in various parts of Bangladesh They are also one of the largest sources of blood donation throughout the country.
Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr was a tropical cyclone that resulted in one of the worst natural disasters in Bangladesh. The fourth named storm of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Sidr formed in the central Bay of Bengal, and quickly strengthened to reach peak 1-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), making it a Category-5 equivalent tropical cyclone on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The storm eventually made landfall in Bangladesh on November 15, 2007, causing large-scale evacuations. At least 3,447 deaths have been blamed on the storm, with some estimates reaching 15,000.
The following are lists of disasters.
Climate change in Bangladesh is a critical issue as the country is one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In the 2020 edition of Germanwatch's Climate Risk Index, it ranked seventh in the list of countries most affected by climate calamities during the period 1999–2018. Bangladesh's vulnerability to climate change impacts is due to a combination of geographical factors, such as its flat, low-lying, and delta-exposed topography, and socio-economic factors, including its high population density, levels of poverty, and dependence on agriculture.
The 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka District, Bangladesh, where an eight-story commercial building called Rana Plaza collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,134. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building. It is considered the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history, the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history and the deadliest industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh and Indonesia established diplomatic relations in 1971. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, whereas Bangladesh is the world's fourth largest Muslim country. They are partners in the United Nations and various multilateral organisations, particularly in international peacekeeping, the Developing 8 Countries, the Non-Aligned Movement, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Bangladesh has an embassy in Jakarta, whereas Indonesia has an embassy in Dhaka. Official diplomatic relations were established in 1972 after Indonesia became one of the first Muslim countries to recognise independent Bangladesh.
Bangladesh–Brazil relations refer to the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Brazil. Bangladesh has an embassy in Brasillia and Brazil has an embassy in Dhaka.
The 1988 Bangladesh cyclone was one of the worst tropical cyclones in Bangladesh history. Striking in November 1988, the tropical system exacerbated the catastrophic damage from what was then considered the worst floods in Bangladesh's history. The tropical cyclone originated from a disturbance that developed within the Strait of Malacca on November 21. Tracking slowly westward, the initial tropical depression reached tropical storm status in the Andaman Sea. On November 26, the storm reached an intensity equivalent to that of a modern-day severe cyclonic storm and subsequently turned northward. Gradually intensifying as it had previously, the tropical cyclone reached peak intensity with winds of 125 mph (201 km/h) as it was making landfall near the Bangladesh–India border on November 29. Although the storm retained strong winds well inland, it was last monitored over central Bangladesh as a moderate cyclonic storm-equivalent on November 30.
The 1996 Bangladesh tornado was a deadly and destructive tornado that struck 80 - 90 villages in north-central Bangladesh on 13 May 1996, leaving more than 600 fatalities with over 37,248 injured, and 36,420 houses were extensively damaged within 20 minutes of its arrival at 125 mi/h. The tornado arrived through Jamalpur, Sirajganj and Tangail districts that affected numerous families across the villages, 100,000 people went homeless and more than 6,787 livestock were killed. Initial reports cited between 400 and 443 dead with 32,000 injured. Before the tornado arrived, locals witnessed heavy hailstones across the affected areas. Strong winds lifted several people away, and one person was blown and dropped 1.5 kilometers away at 28 mph. It also uprooted trees and damaged the houses completely, mostly mudbrick-huts built by the villagers on the banks of river.
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