Living with Extreme Weather 597

Living with ExtremeWeatherHow do people cope with extreme weather?

Main Ideas• South Asia experiences a

yearly cycle of floods, often

followed by drought.

• The extreme weather in

South Asia leads to serious

physical, economic, and

political consequences.

Places & Termssummer monsoon

winter monsoon

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A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE In May 1996, a fierce tornado tore throughnorthern Bangladesh, leaving more than 700 people dead and 30,000injured. Winds reached speeds of 125 mph. Within 30 minutes, nearly80 villages had been destroyed. In the town of Rampur, ReazuddinAhmed and his family sought shelter behind a concrete wall. All thewhile, houses were tossed into the air around them. Babul Ahmed,Reazuddin’s 10-year-old son, described his family’s terror: “It was dustand wind everywhere. We prayed to God: ‘Save us.’ ” The tornado thatterrorized the family was not unusual. It was just one of many types ofextreme weather that plague South Asia and make life both difficultand dangerous.

The Monsoon SeasonsSouth Asia is home to an annual cycle of powerful, destructive weather,including the monsoon. The monsoon is a wind system, not a rainstorm.There are two monsoon seasons—the moist summer monsoon and thedry, cool winter monsoon. (The illustrations on the next page show themonsoon pattern in winter and summer.)

The summer monsoon is a wind system thatblows from the southwest across the Indian Oceantoward South Asia from June through September.These winds stir up powerful storms that releasevast amounts of rain and cause severe flooding.

The winter monsoon is a wind system that blowsfrom the northeast across the Himalayas towardthe sea from October through February. Unlike thesummer monsoon, the winter winds carry littlemoisture. A drought can result if the summer mon-soon has failed to bring normal levels of moisture.From March through May, there are no strong pre-vailing wind patterns.

Impact of the MonsoonsThe monsoon winds shape the rhythms of life forSouth Asia’s people and also affect relationsbetween its countries.

PHYSICAL IMPACT The rains that accompany thesummer monsoons are critical to the agriculture of

Farming Calendar in India

SOURCE:

India-Country Studies

Septe

mber

Octo

ber

Nov

ember

December JanuaryFebruary

Marc

hA

pril

M

ay

JuneJuly

Aug

ust

Weeding

Cool Season(Winter Monsoon)

Hot SeasonWet Season

(Summer Monsoon)

Harvesting

Pla

ntin

g

Inactive

Inactive

SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting GraphicsANALYZING DATA During what season is there no agricultural

activity?

MAKING INFERENCES Which season is the most productive?

598 CHAPTER 26

South Asia, as the farming calendar on page 597 shows. They help nour-ish the rain forests, irrigate crops, and produce the floodwaters thatdeposit layers of rich sediment to replenish the soil. However, heavyflooding can also damage crops.

At the same time, the summer monsoon can cause tremendous dev-astation. Cyclones are common and deadly companions to the summermonsoon. (These storms are called hurricanes in North America.)Cyclones destroy farmland, wipe out villages, and cause massive flood-ing. Their fury is legendary. As you read in the Disasters! feature onpages 578–579, the 1970 cyclone that struck the southern coast ofBangladesh killed more than 300,000 people. It left hundreds of thou-sands homeless and destitute. In fact, because of the monsoons,Bangladesh was the site of some of the worst natural disasters of the20th century.

The droughts that come with the dry winter monsoon bring their ownproblems. Lush landscapes can become arid wastelands almost overnight.These droughts—along with storms and floods—cause havoc for the peo-ple and economies of South Asia.

ECONOMIC IMPACT The climate of South Asia makes agriculture dif-ficult. Crops often disappear under summer floodwaters or wither indrought-parched soil. With so many mouths to feed, the countries ofSouth Asia must buy what they cannot grow, and the threat of famine isever present. But the people suffer from more than just crop failures.They may also lose their homes and families to weather-related catas-trophes. Most people are too poor to rebuild their homes and lives, and

Summer Winter

�Summer and Winter Monsoons

SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting MapsMOVEMENT What direction do the summer monsoon winds follow?

MOVEMENT What direction do the winter monsoon winds follow?

Using the AtlasUse the maps

on page 545 and

this page. What

country of South

Asia seems least

affected by the

summer and

winter monsoons?

wet winds from the southwest

dry winds from the northeast

IndianOcean

IndianOcean

little moistureheavy rain

Himalayas Himalayas

Living with Extreme Weather 599

governments often lack the necessaryresources to provide significant help.However, the people of South Asia havetaken some steps to prevent or lessendamage. These include building houses onstilts, erecting concrete cyclone shelters,and building dams to control floodwaters.

The region also receives internationalaid. Other governments and internationalagencies have lent billions of dollars toSouth Asian nations. But often this aiddoes not go far because of the frequencyof disasters. Also, the aid burdens thesecountries with heavy debts.

POLITICAL TENSIONS Conditions causedby the weather patterns in South Asia havealso caused political disputes. For instance,to bring water to the city of Kolkata, Indiaconstructed the Farakka dam across theGanges at a point just before it entersBangladesh. (See map on page 545.)Because India and Bangladesh share theGanges, the dam left little water for drink-ing and irrigation in southern Bangladesh.Many Bangladeshi farmers lost farmland, and some illegally fled to India.

The two countries finally settled the dispute in 1997, when theysigned a treaty giving each country specific water rights to the Ganges.Still, the dispute provided a graphic example of the role weather playsin both the politics and economics of South Asia. In the Case Study thatfollows, you will read about another political conflict—a territorial dis-pute between India and Pakistan.

Places & TermsExplain the importance

of each of the following

terms and places.

• summer monsoon

• winter monsoon

Taking Notes PLACE Review the notes you took

for this section.

• What are cyclones called in the

United States?

• What kind of devastation can

cyclones cause?

Main Ideas a. Why do some people

mistake monsoons, which

are actually wind systems,

for rainstorms?

b. What problems are

associated with the winter

monsoon?

c. What are some of the

economic effects of

monsoons?

Geographic ThinkingIdentifying and SolvingProblems How have attempts

to address the challenges of

South Asian weather patterns

sometimes resulted in political

disputes? How might disputes

be avoided in the future?

Think about:

• the importance of water

to the region

• who owns rivers

ASKING GEOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS Do research on the issue of water distribution in one

South Asian country. Then, come up with a geographic question about the issue, perhaps one

considering how geography can be used to improve the situation. Answer the question and

write a newspaper article about the issue.

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Seeing PatternsHow might the

governments of

South Asia use

foreign aid?

REGION Dams on the

Ganges divert water to

irrigate Indian farms.

But the dams decrease

water downstream in

Bangladesh.

Why might such aresult cause conflictbetween India andBangladesh?

Causes Effects

Issue 2:Extreme Weather

Image not available foruse on this CD-ROM.Please refer to the imagein the textbook.