GCSE Geography WJEC B - People and Natural World Interactions

Low pressure Weather Event: Burma (Myanmar)

Cyclone Nargis

Location

Burma is located in southern Asia, east of India. It also has borders with China, Thailand and Laos in the east. The coastline is located in the Bay of Bengal

Causes

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis formed in the Bay of Bengal as warm tropical waters heated the air above. This heating caused rapid evaporation which created storm clouds and heavy rainfall around the low pressure weather system.

Due to the very low air pressure, a storm surge was created. This meant that the sea level rose by 3.6 metres. The fact that the storm hit the coast at high tide, meant that flooding was more extreme. In addition, the strong winds whipped up waves reaching a height of 7.6 metres, which drove the flood water inland and engulfed the densely populated coastal areas.

VIDEO - http://abbeyfieldhumanities.blogspot.com/2008/10/weather-event-cyclone-in-burma.html

Effects

130,000 people were killed as winds reached 215 km per hour, flattening trees and buildings in its path

800,000 homes were damaged. As a result, many people were displaced and left homeless.

Flooded land meant that much of the rice crop was destroyed. This meant that there was a shortage of food.

Many people had health problems brought on by diseases spreading in the flood water. Flood water became polluted as it mixed with sewage. Consequently, diarrhoea was a major problem as water supplied became contaminated.

75% of the health centres in the area were affected. This meant that people were unable to receive immunisations, which was likely to lead to an increase in future health problems for the people of the area.

Additional information available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/cyclonenargis

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2008/burma_cyclone/default.stm

D. Drake 2011

http://abbeyfieldhumanities.blogspot.com