Lesson video

Hello, my name's Ms. Gilyeat, and I'm going to be your geography teacher for today.

In today's lesson, we are going to be learning about the effects of river flooding, which is Lesson 10 of the river's topic.

Our lesson outcome for today is that you can describe the effects of flooding.

Okay, so we've got five keywords for today's lesson.

The first one is social effect, which is an effect on people or communities.

An environmental effect, an effect on the environment.

An economic effect, is an effect on money or business.

Short-term effects, are effects during immediately and after an event.

And long-term effects, effects that may last for a long time.

We've got two learning cycles.

So we're gonna start off with looking at the effects of flooding in general, and then we're going to moving on to looking at the effects of flooding in Bangladesh specifically.

Now, flooding can have effects on people, social effects, the economy, so money in business, and the environment, nature.

Looking at that photograph, what social, environmental, and economic effects of flooding can you think of? Now, there are a lot of different social, and economic, and environmental effects.

First of all, we're going to look at social and economic ones, okay? So there can be damage to property, injuries, travel disruption, trauma, damage to business, damage to infrastructure, homelessness, crop destruction, and deaths.

Okay? So all of these are social and economic.

Now, I've not categorised some of them into specifically social and economic, because often, these things go hand in hand.

If it affects the economy, it's going to affect people as well.

Now, flooding can have effects on the environment too, but some of these can be positive.

So if we remember from the previous lesson that flooding is a natural process, it can happen naturally, it can also be affected by humans.

But sometimes the environment needs it to restore as well.

So let's have a look at some of the effects on the environment.

Now, there can be damage to trees, which tends to be a negative effect of flooding.

Habitat destruction, again, that's negative.

So animals and plants lose their habitats.

Soil replenishment is a positive environmental effect of flooding.

So if an area floods, it can often mean that if there are sediment in the river water, that sediment is brought onto the floodplain or the area that's flooded, okay, that sediment might have good nutrients and minerals in it, which means that the soil benefits from that because it becomes more fertile again.

So that can be a positive effect of flooding.

Now, often, farmers quite like to have farm land on floodplains because it's really good cropland.

But even though the area floods quite regularly, which can be a bit risky for a farmer, it tends to mean that the soil is quite fertile.

Okay? It can also recharge groundwater stores.

So this is water which is stored underground.

Now, really, so that's how it's affecting the environment, but that can be good for humans if we collect that water for our own use.

Okay.

Now, what I'd like you to do is tick which of those are the social effects of flooding? Okay? Now, there's more than one.

Okay.

So, homelessness is a social effect.

Deaths and trauma.

Damage to trees would be an environmental one.

Okay, so the environmental effects of flooding include.

Tick all that apply.

So soil replenishment and habitat destruction.

Well done if you've got those right.

Now, river flooding can also cause short-term and long-term effects.

Short-term effects are issues that happen during or immediately after the flood.

Long-term effects are issues that last for a long time, so that could be the weeks, months, or sometimes even years after a flood event has happened.

Short-term effects may include immediate deaths or injuries, damage to property and infrastructure, businesses closing temporarily, and displacement, so people having to force to leave their homes.

So that would happen during or straight after a flood.

Longer term effects of flooding may include homelessness, so people might lose their homes altogether and have nowhere to live.

It can have long-term effects on people's mental health if they've lost their home due to flooding, so they've got nowhere to live.

They've lost a family member or a friend, that can cause poor mental health.

Or even just the potential that their home might flood, can cause long-term anxiety about losing their home.

Unemployment, so if someone's business flooded or where they were flooded, it might mean that that business closes down and they no longer have a job.

And there's also the economic cost of rebuilding.

Let's check our understanding.

Read the speech bubbles and decide which is a short or a long-term effect flooding.

So the first one, "The flood came through my house whilst I was trying to save my belongings and I injured my leg." So it's that short or long term? The second one, "My shop was flooded.

Unfortunately, we cannot afford to reopen it now, so I don't have a job." That's a short-term effect, and that is a long-term effect.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, so we're onto to our first task for the lesson.

In the table, there are different effects of flooding.

What I would like you to do is categorise those into social, environmental, and economic effects.

You could use colours to categorise them and make sure that you colour in the key as well.

Okay, the second task here, I'd like you to read the account of Andeep's experience of flooding.

In one colour, I'd like to highlight the short-term effects, and in another colour, I'd like you to highlight the long-term effects of flooding.

Pause the video and have a go at this activity.

Okay, let's go through the answers.

So the first table activity, the answers are there, so pause the video and check your answers.

Okay, and here's the answers for the second activity.

So I'll quickly go through these.

So short-term effects would be that the school closed early.

Andeep had to stay at his grandparents' house for a couple of days, and unfortunately, Andeep's mom's shop flooded as well.

Those are all short-term effects.

A long-term effects of these is that the shop had to shut down, and that meant that Andeep's mom was unemployed for a couple of months, and she was upset about this.

Okay, so we're gonna move on to our second learning cycle now, which is looking at the effects of flooding in Bangladesh.

Now, Bangladesh is a developing country and is frequently affected by flooding.

So we've got a bit of information about Bangladesh there.

So its location is in South Asia.

The capital city is Dhaka.

And that there is the population of over 175 million people.

So quite a populated country.

Okay, so we can see where the country is located there in relation to other Asian countries.

Okay, so there's a few different reasons why Bangladesh is so vulnerable to flooding.

Okay, so on the slide there, we've got a couple of maps and a satellite image.

I want you to have a look at those and think what factors may contribute to floods In Bangladesh.

Okay, so for the first one, we've got an elevation map of Bangladesh.

Now, it's a little bit hard to see on the map, but the different colours show how high above sea level the areas of land are.

Now, we can see that in the south of the country near the coast, a lot of the land is very low-lying, okay? And a good chunk of it is actually less than 7 metres above sea level.

Now, that means that that land is very prone to coastal flooding, but river flooding also.

Alongside that, just north of Bangladesh, you've got the Himalayan mountain range.

Now, in the summer, when the weather gets warmer, a lot of the snow and the ice in the Himalayas actually melts, and that feeds a lot of the rivers which flow into Bangladesh.

Now, with climate change, that's becoming even worse and worse because more snow and ice is melting than ever has done us before, which is meaning that more water is entering those river channels.

Now, another point about why flooding in Bangladesh is so bad, is that Bangladesh has many different rivers, okay? So it's got many major rivers.

The main three are the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna.

And when these rivers carry excess water from upstream countries, they may overflow.

So, again, a lot of the water that is flowing into those is from the Himalayas.

Now, because you've got so many of those different rivers, and in certain points they converge where you've got confluences, that can mean those areas specifically can be very at risk.

There you've got the location of the different rivers.

Now, alongside this, there can be very heavy rainfall during the monsoon seasons, which is usually June to October, and this can cause rivers to overflow as well, okay? And tropical storms called cyclones in the Bay of Bengal can bring storm surges and heavy rain, especially in coastal areas, okay? So that satellite image shows a tropical storm coming towards Bangladesh with heavy rain.

Okay.

So, what I'd like to do to check your understanding is name three courses of flooding in Bangladesh, and you can use those three images to help you.

Okay, let's go through the answers.

So you've got tropical cyclones, low-lying land, and monsoon rains.

So well done if you got those right.

Now, there have been many social, environmental, and economic effects of flooding in Bangladesh.

Okay, so crops can be destroyed in the farmland.

Now, not only is it bad that the crops are just destroyed, but that can have knock-on effects.

So it means that there are food shortages for the people that live there, but also a loss of income for the farmers from the crops, okay? So that can have many different negative effects.

People are forced to leave their villages, also known as displacement, and stay in temporary shelters.

And these are often living in very poor conditions.

So we can see on the image there of some people that are having to flee their home because it's just about to become flooded.

So thousands of people are made homeless every year in Bangladesh due to flooding.

Schools are damaged or maybe used as shelters, and that often affects children's education as well.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

So which of the following is an economic effect of flooding in Bangladesh? Okay, so the answer there is destroyed crops.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, alongside this, water can become contaminated.

So when we mean the water, not the river water, but the water that people use as their drinking and cooking water, okay? Now, if that water becomes mixed up with some of the river and the flooding water, it's become contaminated, and that can lead to the spread of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and diarrhoea, and those all spread in water and can also lead to food shortages, and a lack of proper diet can lead to malnutrition, especially in children, okay? So if the water becomes contaminated with salty water, then you can't use that to grow crops, and therefore the crops can't grow and you have shortages which can have massive knock on them.

So flooding in Bangladesh can cause environmental effects too.

So floods can destroy habitats for plants and animals.

This can lead to a loss of biodiversity.

And flood water washes away fertile top soil, reducing the land's productivity.

Okay, true or false? Flooding in Bangladesh can lead to health problems. That's true, because flooding can lead to contaminated water which can spread waterborne diseases such as cholera.

Okay, we're onto our final tasks for the lesson.

What I would like to do is annotate the image with a social, environmental, and economic effect of flooding in Bangladesh.

Now, it'd be good for this, rather than just writing one word, write a little detailed paragraph for each one saying what the social, environmental, and economic effect is.

Okay.

And your final task for this lesson is I'd like you to complete a fact file on flooding in Bangladesh.

You can use the information that we've learned in this lesson to complete your fact file.

Okay, we've got answers on the board for the first task here.

So housing and agriculture area has been damaged.

This will be costly to clean up.

Soil has been washed away.

Water looks contaminated, this could lead to diseases.

And homes have been flooding leading to displacement and homelessness.

Okay, the answers to the fact file there.

It might be worth pausing the video just to make sure that you have completed your fact file correctly.

Okay.

We've got summary for today's lesson.

Flooding causes widespread social, economic, and environmental effects globally.

Flooding can lead to short-term but also long-term effects.

In Bangladesh, heavy rainfall, snow melt water, and low-lying land regularly cause flooding.

Drinking water can become contaminated by sewage, which leads to widespread health problems. Flooding causes homelessness and displacement.

And flooding in Bangladesh has led to environmental problems such as fertile soil being washed away and a loss of biodiversity.

Now that's it for today's lesson.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.