BANGLADESH may have escaped the 26 December tsunami largely unscathed, but the sea is attacking it nevertheless, and in a way that is no less devastating.
In the past 40 years, the country鈥檚 largest island, which is home to 1.6 million people, has lost almost half its land. Bhola Island at the mouth of the Ganges delta has shrunk from 6400 square kilometres to less than 4000 km2, according to Coast Watch, a local group formed by the development agency ActionAid.
The delta islands that make up most of southern Bangladesh continually erode and reform as rivers change their paths. But Bhola was stable until the 1960s, according to research by Mohammad Shamsuddoha, who analysed archive maps and satellite images. 鈥淔rom the mid-1960s, the erosion began and the rate has accelerated over the years.鈥� In his report Climate Change, Disaster and the Bangladesh Coastline he argues that rising sea levels brought about by climate change have made eroding currents far more destructive.
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Three years ago, 25,000 people were marooned when floods removed a chunk of Bhola鈥檚 land.
