Weather Break

Click here to listen to episode 302 of Weather Break

The Asian country of Bangladesh has seen more than its fair share of natural disasters in recent decades, including several major “cyclones” (what we in the United States would call “hurricanes”).  The so-called Bhola Cyclone of 1970 may have killed a half a million residents of this low-lying nation.  As a result of that disaster, the Bangladeshi government constructed many hurricane shelters that would improve the chances of survival for poor people.  In 1991, another major cyclone struck Bangladesh, and this time the death toll was about 138,000–still an enormous tragedy, but far less than in the previous storms.  On today’s episode of Weather Break, Dr. Jon Schrage of the Creighton University Department of Atmospheric Sciences reviews that 1991 Bangladesh Cyclone, which made landfall 17 years ago today.

Links:

For more information about the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, visit:

• The University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire
• Wikipedia
• Unisys Weather
• The National Institutes of Health
• History Research Guide

For a gallery of images from the aftermath of the storm, visit netphotograph.com.