Page 49 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

Village Life in Bangladesh 17

malaria becomes endemic. Skin rashes, widespread during
summer, are universal in monsoon. The combination of
heat, humidity, and perspiration assure that everyone is
itching. Young children are especially prone to becoming
covered with sores. All in all it is a greatly trying season.
Still, Bangladeshis tolerate it; what else can they do?
Yet the monsoon also has its appeal. There’s a charm in
sitting indoors and looking out at a storm. There are even
traditional musical ragas that specifically complement the
atmosphere during rains.

Many severe storms brew in the Bay of Bengal, and
Bangladesh, West Bengal, and Orissa get the worst of
most of them. Bangladesh in particular has always been
heavily hit. Although they mostly occur during rainy
season, cyclones can come at any time of the year; and it
is not unusual for tens of thousands of people to die in any
given storm. During the past two hundred years there has
been an average of more than one severe cyclone every
year, several of which have killed hundreds of thousands
of people and innumerable domestic animals, and have
devastated vast areas of crops and countless houses
and buildings. 16

16. Two of the most devastating storms in recent history occurred
in November 1970 and December 1971, in which 500,000 and
140,000 people, respectively, were estimated to have died. The
latter storm is also said to have destroyed 80% of the nation’s
livestock. By the very nature of calamities, such estimates cannot
be considered very accurate. Indeed, firsthand experience
leads many to suspect that official disaster figures tend toward
underestimation.