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S. Asia monsoon

Last reviewed: 01-06-2008

More floods, less clean water


Flood-affected Sri Lankan Tamil villagers carry baskets of food on a flooded road in the eastern Sri Lanka district of Batticaloa, December 17, 2004. REUTERS/Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi
Flood-affected Sri Lankan Tamil villagers carry baskets of food on a flooded road in the eastern Sri Lanka district of Batticaloa, December 17, 2004. REUTERS/Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi
Every year, monsoon seasons in South Asia bring severe storms and flooding to wide swathes of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Climate change is now making things worse, as melting glaciers in the Himalayas increase the risk of flooding but cut the supply of fresh water.

  • Worst recent floods in 2005 killed 3,400 in the region
  • Scientists predict more devastating floods and landslides
  • Indian Subcontinent one of the areas most affected by climate change

    Monsoon rains are essential for the region's agriculture, but poor infrastructure and poverty have left communities increasingly ill-equipped to cope with the impact of heavy rains. Flooding and landslides claim lives, destroy property and crops and increase the prevalence of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

    The seasons can be loosely categorised into the northeastern winter monsoon which runs from December to early March, and the southwestern summer monsoon, which normally lasts from early June to early September and supplies more than 80 percent of annual rainfall.

    The winter monsoon - which blows in from the northeast carrying moisture from the Bay of Bengal - is also normally responsible for cyclones in India.

    Environmental scientists say South Asia, and India in particular, is set to be one of the worst-affected regions by climate change as ever rising temperatures melt the Himalayan glaciers. More than 500 million people - almost half of India's total population - living in the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins rely on the glaciers for their water supply.

    Paradoxically, faster melting glaciers increase the risk of rivers bursting their banks because of the larger volumes of water, but the fact that they are also receding means that water supplies aren't reaching as far as they used to.

    Not only that, experts say rising temperatures are affecting moderate summer monsoon rainfall which is normally easily absorbed by the earth and recharges the ground water. Instead, rain now falls in heavier bouts on drier ground, which is more prone to flooding and landslides.

    According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, so-called extreme rain events could reach 100 per year in India, more than double the 45 that were common in the 1950s. Researchers also say rising temperatures will mean mosquito-borne diseases will spread to higher altitudes.

    In 2006, torrential rain during the summer monsoon in June displaced nearly half a million people in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, where the Brahmaputra River burst its banks. Flood waters cut off highways and railways, stranding hundreds of thousands of people in ten districts. In western India, freak torrential rains flooded the desert state of Rajasthan, displacing hundreds of thousands and killing 140 people.

    The worst flooding in recent years hit areas of India's Maharashtra state around Mumbai in July 2005. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, more than 22 million people were affected, including 3,400 killed, 1,100 people injured and another 450,000 displaced.
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