1988 in Bangladesh


The year 1988 was the 17th year after the independence of Bangladesh. It was also the seventh year of the Government of Hussain Muhammad Ershad.

Incumbents

Climate

Flood

Bangladesh experienced heavy rain and flooding in the last two weeks of August. By the first week of September the situation further deteriorated. Nearly 25 million people were rendered homeless and official death toll exceeded 500. About 30,000 km of roads were partially destroyed and rice crop on 3.5 million hectares was destroyed or damaged. The situation started to improve in late September, but people rendered homeless due to the flood continued to struggle. Different countries including Australia, Denmark, United Kingdom, Japan, Ireland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, India, Iraq, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Turkey, France, Pakistan, Qatar, KSA and United States as well as agencies including UNDRO, WHO, UNDP, EEC, Caritas, SCF-US, World Vision, LRCS, CCDB, Red Cross and WFP joined the Bangladesh Government in the relief operations.

Cyclone

The 1988 Bangladesh cyclone was one of the worst tropical cyclones in Bangladeshi history. Striking in November 1988, the tropical system exacerbated the catastrophic damage from what was then considered the worst floods in Bangladesh's history. The tropical cyclone originated from a disturbance that developed within the Strait of Malacca on 21 November. Tracking slowly westward, the initial tropical depression reached tropical storm status in the Andaman Sea. On 26 November, the storm reached an intensity equivalent to that of a modern-day severe cyclonic storm and subsequently turned northward. Gradually intensifying as it had previously, the tropical cyclone reached peak intensity with winds of 125 mph as it was making landfall near the Bangladesh-West Bengal border on 29 November. Although the storm retained strong winds well inland, it was last monitored over central Bangladesh as a moderate cyclonic storm-equivalent on 30 November.
The brunt of the tropical cyclone's damage was inflicted upon coastal areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal. A total of 6,240 people were killed as a result of the storm, with 5,708 in Bangladesh and 538 in West Bengal. Many of the deaths were a result of the destruction of homes or electrocution after strong winds toppled power poles across the region. Along the coast of Bangladesh, strong storm surge caused heavy infrastructure damage and contributed in wiping out an estimated 70% of all harvestable Bangladeshi crops, with an estimated 200,000 tonnes of crops being lost. Widespread power outages cut telecommunications across Bangladesh; in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital city, debris-laden streets paralyzed traffic while electrical outages caused water shortages.

Economy

Note: For the year 1988 average official exchange rate for BDT was 31.73 per US$.

Events

Awards and recognitions

International Recognition

Ekushey Padak

  1. Bonde Ali Miah
  2. Ashraf Siddiqui
  3. Fazal Shahabuddin
  4. Anwar Hossain
  5. Sudhin Das

Sports

Olympics:

Births

Deaths