The event is the May 13th, 1996 tornado in Bangladesh, India where over 600 people died and many more missing or injured. This disaster was a catastrophic change disaster. A catastrophic change is when normal natural disasters such as fires, floods, storms or earthquakes turn violent and not only destroys landscape and nature but takes the lives of humans.

What Actually Happened:

On a Monday afternoon in May 13th of 1996 a massive thunderstorm formed in Bangladesh. As the storm developed wind coming into the storm created a spiraling funnel. As the wind in this funnel spins faster it creates a low pressure in the center that makes more air be sucked in. When the spiraling funnel or tornado reaches the ground the wind spinning in the center can be going speeds of up to 400km/hr. The tornado in Bangladesh only lasted 20 minutes with wind speeds of 125mph but left a trail of destruction, destroying 10, 000 homes, killing 600 people and injuring 33, 000 people.

Short Term Changes To The Environment:

This Tornado caused many bits of buildings, branches and trees to be moved great distances leaving debris scattered all over northern Bangladesh. Dust, dirt and ash were blown up into the atmosphere by the fierce winds that the tornado unleashed. Many trees that were ripped out of the soil left Dhaka open to flooding from the Bay of Bengal just south of there. This also left the ground hard and broken from where the trees used to be buried; this also leaves no place for animals to take shelter. Also storm clouds continued to rain on the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka for a short time after the actual tornado.

Long Term Changes To The Environment:

The long-term changes to the environment that this tornado caused is not an immediate threat to people or the environment but could be a small cause to the pollution that is in the air in Bangladesh. This tornado carried large amounts of dirt, dust and debris into the air filling the sky with large dust clouds. This could slowly lead to the threat of global warming if too much pollution is in the air.

The Negative Impact On Humans From This Event:

There are many negative impacts this tornado had on humans. The main is the loss of human lives. Over 600 people died in this event that all have families that are also impacted by there death. Also this tornado destroyed over 10, 000 homes and left around 100, 000 people without a place to return to. These people then had no food, water or shelter and some also had desperate medical needs that were unattended for days. Most of these houses were built on there farms and with there farms destroyed by the tornado it leaves the villages with no way to get any income. Another Negative impact was that many people had to stop working and give up there own time to help those in need. Although this is an act of kindness many people had to work overtime in hospitals; have no rest and work non-stop to help those in need.

The Positive Impact On Humans From This Event:

There is very little positive impact on humans from this event but a positive is that now people in Bangladesh will rebuild there houses to be storm proof and they will learn how to be well prepared and know the proper procedure to follow when the next tornado or other natural disaster comes there. Also these people have learned how kind humans can be when you’re in need. Straight after the tornado many people volunteered there own time to help rebuild homes and care for injured people.

Why People Live In This Area:

People live in this area for its beautiful scenery and for the memories and moments they have lived there in there lifetime. Many people would be reluctant to just pack up and leave these memories behind and therefore they stay even though of the dangers. This area doesn’t constantly have tornadoes or other natural disasters but yet it is not immune from these events. No matter where you live there is always a risk that a catastrophic disaster will occur but these people don’t think they are in any immediate threat of this kind of disaster occurring again.

Conclusion:

This event is a catastrophic event because this tornado tore through the land and killed over 600 people. When people die in a natural disaster it becomes catastrophic because human life is worth so much more than buildings, trees or animals. But while there will always be natural disasters there will also be people who will stop their work to help these people in need.