Experts say the catastrophic rain-triggered floods, which submerged large part of the country’s northern and northeastern areas, are an outcome of climate change.
Saiful Islam, director of the Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM) at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), analysed 35 years of flooding data and found that rains were getting more unpredictable and many rivers are rising above dangerous levels more frequently than before.
“The last seven years alone brought five major floods, eroding people’s capacity to adapt, especially in the country’s northern and northeastern regions,” Islam told Al Jazeera.
Citing one of his research papers, he said even if average global temperatures increase modestly – by 2˚C (3.6˚F) over the average for pre-industrial times – flooding along the Brahmaputra river basin in northeastern India and Bangladesh is projected to increase by 24%.
With an increase of 4˚C (7.2˚F), flooding is projected to increase by more than 60%, Islam’s research indicated.