Cyclone Nargis

Question 1

Where and when

Answer 1

Myanmar
2nd May 2008
One of the least developed countries in the world
Storm formed in the bay of Bengal
Category 4 storm

Question 2

Wind speeds and storm surge

Answer 2

215km/hr winds

5m storm surge

Question 3

Social impacts

Answer 3

140,000 killed
450,000 homes destroyed
3.2 million left homeless
4000 schools destroyed
75% of health facilities destroyed or damaged
Diseases spread due to contaminated water and poor sanitary conditions

Question 4

Economic impacts

Answer 4

6000 square km of agricultural land damaged including commercial rice paddies
40% of food stores destroyed
Millions lost their livelihoods e.g. fishing boats
$10 billion in costs

Question 5

Environmental impacts

Answer 5

380 square km of mangrove forests were destroyed
Mangroves are salt tolerant and are excellent natural protection against flooding however many mangroves had been cleared to make way for rice paddies and shrimp farms
Flooding caused salinisation (increased salt content) of low lying farm land

Question 6

Human responses

Answer 6

Myanmar doesn’t have a monitoring centre and so people were only aware of the cyclone 48 hours before it hit
No emergency plans or evacuation plan
No early warning system
Government initially refused to accept foreign aid
However a week after it hit, the government decided to accept help from organisations such as the UN
At the time, the country was ruled by a military government that didn’t allow volunteers in until 2 weeks after it hit. This significantly effected the death toll