Landslides kill nine as Bangladesh lashed by rain
The Peninsula
Cox s Bazar, Bangladesh: Torrential rains in Bangladesh have triggered landslides burying alive at least nine people and forcing thousands to flee to...
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh: Torrential rains in Bangladesh have triggered landslides burying alive at least nine people and forcing thousands to flee to higher ground, police and government officials in the low-lying nation said Wednesday.
Schools have been turned into shelters for those abandoning their homes to rising river waters, while more than a million people have been stranded in northern areas.
Bangladesh, a nation of around 170 million people, is among the countries most vulnerable to disasters and climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index.
The annual monsoon rains cause widespread destruction every year, but experts say climate change is shifting weather patterns and increasing the number of extreme weather events.
"At least 700,000 people have been stranded by flash floods and heavy rains in Sylhet district, and another 500,000 people in neighbouring Sunamganj district," Abu Ahmed Siddique, commissioner of Bangladesh's northeastern Sylhet district, told AFP.
