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Agriculture of Bangladesh is closely dependent on weather, rainfall pattern and land formation. However, frequent hydro-meteorological hazards cause to adversely affect the normal agricultural process and production. This study aimed to assess the impact of Hydro meteorological hazards on the crop cultivation practices, possible mitigation and adaptation measures for the farmers at Chalan Beel area under Pabna district, Bangladesh. There are 90 people having land and engaged with crop cultivation directly at Chalan Beel were been selected by applying purposive sampling method and interviewed by a pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire through face to face interview. The results revealed that Rice (93.75 %) and Garlic (47.5 %) are the major cultivating crops at Chalan Beel and 96 % of the farmers were been experienced with hydrometeorological devastation. The farmers perceived Nor'wester (77.9 %) as the most frequent hazard causing crop damage following by Heavy Rainfall (71.4 %), Hailstorm (68.8 %), Heavy Wind (45.5 %), Flashflood (42.9 %), Heavy Fog and Floods (19.5 % and 11.7 %) respectively. It is also identified that Nor'wester (58.4 %) and Heavy Rainfall (58.4 %) had maximum damage whereas Hailstorm (55.8 %), Heavy Wind and Flashflood also considerable adverse effects on overall crop production at this area. Only 24 % of farmers were found to change their cultivation pattern as the adaptation measure. This study portrayed that hydro-meteorological hazards are adversely affecting the crop production at Chalan Beel area and resulting economic loss. Therefore, government should ensure the participation of farmers along with adopting their deliberative in developing a strategic plan for providing technical support for diversification and training to adapt in this hazard prone area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh is a country that comprises much of the world's largest delta, formed from the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna (GBM) rivers and their tributaries. Flooding is a fact of life in Bangladesh where up to two-thirds of the country is flooded annually from combined monsoonal rains and Himalayan snowmelt. For this reason, understanding flood dynamics on both local and regional scales is critical. However, flood hazard studies to date typically rely on single flooding events to create flood maps and to evaluate flood hazards using satellite imagery. Here we use geographic information systems to analyze weekly water level data from 304 river gauges and over 1200 groundwater gauges from the Bangladesh Water Development Board to determine the spatial and temporal changes in flood depth and extent. These data cover an eight year period from 2002 to 2010 and provide a temporal resolution that match or are better than that of available satellite imagery. Country-wide ground and surface water levels and corresponding annual flooding events were determined along with groundwater level, flooding, and precipitation trends in Bangladesh at multiple scales. We find that while precipitation within the GBM basin has steadily increased through the time series, the average country-wide inundation depth and absolute water level has been decreasing. These respective trends could be attributed to improved flood management strategies in Bangladesh and surrounding countries that are within the GBM basin, as well as fluctuating weather patterns, declining volume of Himalayan snowmelt runoff, dam construction upriver from the GBD both within and outside the Bangladesh border, and increased groundwater abstraction of shallow groundwater aquifers for sustaining life in the eighth most populous country in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration behaviour of the Inhabitants of Meghna Estuarine region has been affected by several social, economic and natural causes. This migration has been thought as a part of social behaviour in this region. It has been predicted in several international researches that, human migration is going to be the worst possible effect triggered by the changing climatic scenario (IPCC, 2007). Natural hazards are also very much responsible for human migration. Purpose of this research is to find out the pattern and factors of natural hazards induced outmigration in Meghna Estuarine Islands of Bangladesh. In this empirical research, primary data has been collected through threestage socioeconomic survey. From this research it has been seen that, natural hazards like river bank erosion, saline tide, flood, cyclone, storms cause extreme havoc to the life and livelihood of the inhabitants of Meghna Estuary islands. Many of these situations force inhabitants to migrate temporarily or permanently. Indirectly these hazards also affects migration behaviours by affecting natural resources and income sources of inhabitants of this region. Natural hazards have two types of effect on migration behaviour; one is forcing rapid migration by riverbank erosion, cyclone etc. and the other is making situations for slow migration decision by disturbing the regular economic, social and environmental system. Two types of outmigrations are prominent in these islands; permanent household migration and partial migration - and these migration behaviours have been influenced by natural hazards of these study areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present main findings of flood research conducted so far in Bangladesh. The paper emphasizes unconventional findings and points out how some of these findings differ from thepopular perceptions regarding some important aspects of flooding. The available studies clearly suggests that research into the impact offlooding on human settlement and other relevant aspects is much lessdeveloped in Bangladesh than the body of literature focusing on human adjustment to flood hazard. The paper identifies flood research gaps in the context of Bangladesh and suggests a new arena for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]