Bangladesh lost Tk 184.25 billion to natural disasters from 2009 to 2014: Study

Bangladesh has lost Tk 184.25 billion to natural disasters between 2009 and 2014, according to a report by the country’s statistics bureau.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics unveiled the report, ‘Bangladesh Disaster-related Statistics 2015, Perspective Climate Change and Natural Disaster’, in Dhaka on Sunday.

The report said natural disasters in those six years claimed most losses of crops – worth Tk 66.7 billion or 36.2 percent of the total loss.

It placed river erosion on the second of the list with a loss of Tk 49.23 billion while damage of houses caused a loss of Tk 31.68 billion.

Md Rafiqul Islam, who headed the study, said 143,980 households of all 64 districts were surveyed in two phases.

At the programme marking the publication, he said over 20 million people, or 12.64 percent of the total population, reside in Bangladesh’s disaster-prone areas. 

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was also present at the programme.

He expressed his concern over the developed countries emitting carbon continuously. He said the target to keep the rise in temperature by two degrees Celsius will not be achieved if proper steps to stop this are not taken in time.

He also said the government was working to keep the people along the coasts safe by building a large dam.