Eight of the top ten deadliest cyclones on record have occurred in the Bay of Bengal, according to one list on Weather Underground, according to a report by /www.weathernationtv.com.
Some of the world’s worst weather disasters have happened to communities across the Bay of Bengal, that triangular shaped Bay on the eastern side of India, which also borders Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Due to the bay’s unique funnel shape, its many inlets, and the flat, low-lying land areas that border it, storm surge can not only be magnified, but it can also move far inland, impacting densely populated regions near the coast.
These geographic traits are one of the reasons that the list of deadliest tropical cyclones in world history is littered with storms in the Bay of Bengal.
The deadliest on record is generally said to be the Great Bhola Cyclone in 1970 which killed 300,000 to 500,000 people in India and modern-day Bangladesh (at the time East Pakistan).
In 1991, a cyclone with 155mph winds and a 20-foot storm surge killed nearly 140,000 people in Bangladesh.
And if you are thinking these sorts of things cannot happen today, in 2008, Cyclone Nargis came ashore along the Irrawadday River Delta in Myanmar as a Category 4 storm with over 10 feet of storm surge.
Nargis and the waters of the Bay of Bengal came rushing through communities across the Delta, killing an estimated 138,000 people.
Physical geography isn’t the only reason Bangladesh faces significant risk from cyclones.
Of the world’s 100 most populous countries, Bangladesh is the most densely populated. It is also among the poorest (GDP of $3,900 compared to the United States’ $57,300). These socioeconomic factors make the country especially vulnerable.
