2. The cyclone hit in the south eastern coast of Bangladesh. The cyclone itself formed over the bay of bengal in the indian ocean and struck the coastlin on the 19 th of May 1997. Wind speeds reached up to 250kilometres per hour. This caused serious damage and flooding in the eastern coastal area of Bangladesh which is home to approximately 4million people. The effects of the cyclone were mostly felt between the 200km of coast between Chittagong and Teknaf at the southern tip of Bangladesh. The winds moved northwards and caused torrential rain and high winds in the Himalayas.
3. During the course of the cyclone, 111 people died and a further 7000 injured. The storm cut communication links to coastal islands making it difficult to receive damage and casualty reports. As a result of the storm, 500,000 people left homeless as the mud, brick and thatch houses that crowd the coast were completely destroyed. 608 educational institutions were destroyed or damaged along with large quantities of fishing boats. 30,000 hectares of crops were damaged and 2000 cattle were lost. Fish ponds, wells and other sources of drinking water were contaminated by salt water which left over one million people without drinking water. Outbreaks of diarrohea affected thousands of people.
4. There were two main factors responsible for the low death rates. 1.) the Bangladeshi governments quick response. 2.) the fact that the body of water around the coast was at low tide. Australia - $77,000 Canada - $100,000 France - $35,000 Sweden - $240,000 UK - $160,000 USA - $640,000 Thermal image of a cyclone.
