Cyclone Amphan: Is Bangladesh prepared?

May 20, 2020

As “super cyclone” Amphan barrelled toward Bangladesh and India on Wednesday, a poultry farmer living close to the Bay of Bengal coastline said she was worried about leaving her farm behind to take shelter in a facility in Bangladesh’s coastal region of Bagerhat.

“We are hungry. Nobody has offered us food in the shelter since we arrived here,” 45-year-old Rohimon Begum told DW. “The cyclone will destroy my home and my poultry farm. I don’t know what to do,” she added.

Sheuli Begum, a volunteer, guides people to the shelters. She said that some people have opted to stay at home despite several warnings about the storm surge that could follow the cyclone.

“We have been trying hard to get them to shelters, but they are not paying heed,” she told DW. On Tuesday, authorities issued a warning for the coastal regions of Bangladesh.

Cyclone Amphan comes at a time when Bangladesh is also struggling to cope with the COVID-19 public health crisis. The pandemic has already claimed 370 lives in the South Asian country, and as of Wednesday, some 25,121 people have been infected.

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Carrying out rescue and relief efforts amid coronavirus protection measures is proving to be a difficult task for officials.

Local authorities have allocated a separate shelter for people who recently came to the Bagerhat area from elsewhere.

“They are not infected with the virus, but we are still putting them there for safety reasons,” shelter volunteer Begum said.

The Bagerhat region is prone to cyclones. In 2007, Cyclone Sidr killed at least 3,447 people in the area. Nazrul Islam, a local journalist, told DW that a lack of shelters and other facilities to deal with natural disasters are behind the high death toll during cyclones.

Read more: Cyclone Bulbul: Bangladesh, India report dozens of casualties

Inadequate disaster preparedness

Bangladesh’s low-lying coastal region, which is home to around 30 million people, is regularly battered by cyclones that have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the past decades. The deadliest was the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, which killed at least 139,000 people in the country.

Climate change has led to more intense and frequent natural disasters in Bangladesh. However, the death tolls have been reduced, thanks to better technology and faster evacuations.

Experts, however, believe Bangladesh needs to do better in dealing with cyclones.

Professor Ainun Nishat, the country’s top climate expert, said that the government needs to install more cyclone shelters in coastal areas.

“Bangladesh needs around 10,000 cyclone shelters in these areas. We don’t have more than 5,000 right now,” Nishat told DW.

Bangladeshi authorities are trying a different approach; they are urging people, who have the financial means, to build multi-story houses.

“All government buildings in the coastal areas should be elevated. They can be used as shelters during tropical storms. It becomes very difficult to accommodate everyone during emergencies,” he added.

Read more: Cyclone Amphan: Millions evacuated in India, Bangladesh, as storm approaches

Climate change

Dykes along the Bangladeshi coast stretch across 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles). They also protect the locals from tropical storms. But over the years, these protective walls have developed cracks due to a lack of maintenance.

Nishat believes that apart from maintenance issues, the dykes also need to be elevated. Global warming has increased sea levels, making high tides more pronounced than before, the expert said.

“The height of the dykes near the coast is usually 15 feet (4.5 meters), which was sufficient in the past, but not anymore,” Nishat said.

Environmentalists say that mangrove forests can help mitigate the impact of cyclones on coastal areas. When the southern parts of Bangladesh were hit hard by cyclones Sidr in 2007 and Aila in 2009, a mangrove forest called the Sundarbans, which spreads over 10,000 square kilometers, acted as a natural barrier against the storms before they could hit residential areas. This likely saved lives and property. Cyclone Amphan is also expected to make landfall in the Sundarbans.

Nishat said the Bangladeshi government is taking initiatives to grow mangroves on new islands in coastal areas in order to protect them from storms.

Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Experts say that up to 20% of the country’s land could be submerged in the next 30 years due to rising river and sea levels.

Read more: Rising sea levels threaten Sundarbans forests

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

Social distancing impossible during Cyclone Amphan

Residents along Bangladesh’s coast are being moved to safety as one of the strongest cyclones in years strikes the region. Millions of people had to be evacuated from low-lying regions along the Bay of Bengal on May 19. But plans are complicated by the coronavirus precautions. Maintaining social distancing is nearly impossible.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

Typhoon season amid the COVID-19 pandemic

On May 14, Typhoon Vongfong slammed the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rains, destroying the city of San Policarpo in the eastern province of Samar. At least five people died and more than 91,000 people were forced to leave their homes. Typhoons are not unusual in the Philippines at this time of year. But the COVID-19 outbreak lockdown measures are exacerbating the situation.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

Three names – one phenomenon

Hurricane, typhoon, and cyclone are actually three names for the same phenomenon. Along the North American coast they are called hurricanes, in East and Southeast Asia they are called typhoons, and near India and Australia they are called cyclones. But despite the different names, they develop in the same way.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

A cyclone is created

Tropical storms develop over oceans when the water temperature is at least 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). As the warm water evaporates and condenses, the air around it heats up and drags cooler air upwards, creating powerful winds.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

The eye of the storm

The Earth’s rotation causes the air stream to move around the eye of the storm, which can be up to 50 kilometers wide. This area is nearly completely free of clouds and wind.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

A storm hits land

When a tropical storm hits a coastline, it becomes weaker due to the lack of warm water. In Australia, “Marcia” was soon downgraded to a category one storm, while “Lam” weakened after striking near Brisbane. Masses of water from the sea often cause the worst damage – as seen here in China after Typhoon Nanmadol in August 2011.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

Chaos ensues

Hurricane Sandy was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded over the Atlantic Ocean. It caused waves of up to 4 meters high, fires, power outages and broken dykes. Sandy arrived with winds at speeds of more than 145 kilometers per hour. Cuba, New York and New Jersey were particularly affected.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

Destructive vortex

Tornadoes however, are non-tropical whirlwinds that can occur anywhere a storm is brewing. Local temperature differences force warm air upwards and cold air down, and a column of warm air rotates upwards at an increasing velocity. Tornadoes are usually only a maximum of 1 kilometer in diameter.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

Fastest storms

As the warm air rises, it forms a funnel, the main characteristic of a tornado. Inside the funnel, the speed of the air can be tremendous – up to 500 kilometers per hour. Tornadoes are the fastest whirlwind type of weather phenomenon.

Cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes – the power of devastation

Trail of destruction

A tornado can leave a trail of destruction several kilometers long. In the US Midwest, tornadoes occur several hundred times a year, as dry, cold air from the north hits damp, warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. It’s different in other countries – in Germany, for example, tornadoes occasionally occur along the coast.

Author: Brigitte Osterath / ew