Bangladesh suffers 2.33 bln USD loss from natural disasters from 2009-2014: study

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.

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 (around 2.33 billion U.S. dollars) in the last six years until 2014.

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 percent 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.

Md Rafiqul Islam, who led the BBS study, told journalists 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 country's 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.

An official of Bangladesh's National Disaster Response Coordination Center (NDRCC) had then told Xinhua that the cyclone caused the deaths of at least 20 people in four districts.

One month after Cyclone Roanu struck Bangladesh, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies last week warned that thousands remain in need of urgent help as the monsoon season hits.

Nearly a quarter of a million people in coastal districts have been forced to leave their homes due to damage inflicted by the cyclone, which affected around 1.3 million people and led to widespread flooding, it said. Enditem