Country suffers $2.33b loss from natural disasters: BBS
In the last six years from 2009 to 2014, Bangladesh has suffered a heavy loss from natural disasters such as floods and cyclones with accompanying storm surges, tornadoes and river-bank erosion, a state agency study report revealed, reports Gulf Times.
In a study report titled Bangladesh Disaster-related Statistics 2015, Perspective Climate Change and Natural Disaster, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) revealed that the country has suffered a financial loss of 184.25 billion taka ($2.33 billion) in the last six years until 2014, Xinhua reports.
According to the report, which was launched at a press conference in capital Dhaka on Monday, natural calamities claimed most losses of crops - worth 66.7 billion taka or 36.2 per cent of the total loss - in the last six years.
The study found river erosion on the second of the list with a loss of 49.23 billion taka while damage of houses caused a loss of 31.68 billion taka.
Rafiqul Islam, who led the BBS study, said that 143,980 households of all 64 Bangladesh districts were surveyed in two phases as part of conducting the study in 2015.
He said currently more than 20 million Bangladesh people have been living in the countrys disaster-prone areas.
Bangladesh, the largest delta in the world with low-lying flood plains, now faces innumerable challenges due to both man-made and natural disasters.
Among other challenges which often hamper Bangladesh include flooding, river bank erosion, increasing salinity in the coastal areas, deteriorating quality of surface and ground water, unstable groundwater use, encroachment upon water bodies and reduction of fish habitats and uncertainty of river flows.
At the latest, Cyclone Roanu slammed into the Bangladesh coastlines after making landfall in a southernmost coastal district on May 21, leaving a trail of devastation.
