Storm types in Bangladesh : duration, intensity and area of intra‐daily wet events

International audienceWe explore the characteristics of 96190 wet events (WE) defined as consecutive 3-hourly rainfall >= 1 mm/3h from a network of 34 stations across Bangladesh. Nearly 60% (5%) of wet events last = 15) hours. The WEs are dynamically clustered into four "canonical" storm types (ST), mostly discretized by their duration, but also their mean and maximal intensity. While durations, total amounts and wet contiguous areas of WEs are positively related, their mean intensity is nearly independent of them. ~ 60% of WEs are associated with ST#1, that is short and small WEs and very low rainfall amounts (usually < 10 mm), ~15% of WEs are associated with either (ST#2) short/small WEs but with intense rainfall, probably mostly related to scattered thunderstorms, or (ST#3) longer/larger WEs but with less intense rainfall. The last ST (ST#4) is rare (~ 6%), related to very long durations and large wet areas, and includes the wettest WEs. It is especially frequent over southeastern Bangladesh. ST#2 to #4 contribute almost equally to the local-scale total amount of rainfall (27-29% each in mean) while ST#1, despite its individual low rainfall amount, still includes ~ 15% of it. ST#2 (ST#4) is related to the highest probability of occurrence of 3-hourly (daily) extremes. ST#4 occurrence is the most impacted by synoptic Indian lows/depressions as well as the main modes of intraseasonal variation, while ST#1 and #2 are also significantly impacted by intraseasonal modes but in reverse manner than ST#4

Potential impact of climate change on crop insect pests and diseases in Bangladesh: Future scenarios and strategies for climate services

Insect pest and disease outbreaks are driven by the environmental factors, presence of susceptible crop plants, and insect pest or pathogen population. Future climate variability and climate change (CC) are expected to modify the distribution and severity of pest damage and disease epidemics. In this paper, we present (i) an overview of the major and emerging insect pests and diseases of key field crops and associated yield losses, (ii) an analysis of historical and future climate scenarios and potential infestation of the agents, (iii) a framework to support integrated pest and disease management, and (iv) recommendations towards policies and actions. We have utilized modeling approaches to provide a preliminary estimate of the potential changes in three insect pests and 14 disease species with three future time-slices

Infrastructure alone cannot ensure resilience to weather events in drinking water supplies

Climate resilient water supplies are those that provide access to drinking water that is sustained through seasons and through extreme events, and where good water quality is also sustained. While surface and groundwater quality are widely understood to vary with rainfall, there is a gap in the evidence on the impact of weather and extremes in rainfall and temperature on drinking water quality, and the role of changes in water system management. A three-country (Bangladesh, Nepal and Tanzania) observational field study tracked 2353 households clustered around 685 water sources across seven different geographies over 14 months. Water quality (E. coli) data was modelled using GEE to account for clustering effects and repeated measures at households. All types of infrastructure were vulnerable to changes in weather, with differences varying between geographies; protected boreholes provided the greatest protection at the point of collection (PoC). Water quality at the point of use (PoU) was vulnerable to changes in weather, through changes in PoC water quality as well as changes in management behaviours, such as safe storage, treatment and cleaning. This is the first study to demonstrate the impact of rainfall and temperature extremes on water quality at the PoC, and the role that weather has on PoU water quality via management behaviours. Climate resilience for water supplies needs to consider the infrastructure as well as the management decisions that are taking place at a community and household level

The Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depressive Symptoms Among Medical Students in Bangladesh During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study

BACKGROUND: Whilst very limited studies have demonstrated a correlation between the COVID-19 pandemic and depressive symptoms amongst Bangladeshi medical students, the prevalence and associated factors of depressive symptoms as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) remains widely unknown. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with depression symptoms among Bangladeshi medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. METHOD: In this web-based cross-sectional pilot study, medical students' data was collected using the Google Forms web survey platform after obtaining electronic informed consent. A total of 425 medical students were selected using a systematic sampling technique to accumulate depression symptoms and demographic and pandemic-related information. Depression was measured by a self-administered, validated English version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) tool. The descriptive analysis utilized frequency and percentages, while the stepwise binary logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors associated with depressive symptoms. RESULT: Among 425 medical students, 62.3% were female, 97.4% unmarried. Almost 80.2% of medical students had mild to severe levels of depressive symptoms as characterized by PHQ-9. A significantly higher probability of depression was found amongst female students (adjusted OR = 1.8), those who struggled to stay away from social media (adjusted OR = 1.8), those who tried to be optimistic for maintaining better psychology (adjusted OR = 11.1), and those who always had a sleeping difficulty in the last 4 weeks (adjusted OR = 8.9). CONCLUSION: A very high prevalence of depression symptoms among Bangladeshi medical students was found across the majority of socio-demographic variables. The alarming prevalence and associated factors of depression suggests the need for follow-intensity psychosocial interventions designed for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemi