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Cyclone Nargis storm surge in Myanmar

Nature Geoscience volume 2, pages 448–449 (2009)Cite this article

To the Editor

Tropical cyclone Nargis (category 4 on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale, SSHS) made landfall on 2 May 2008, causing the worst natural disaster in Myanmar's recorded history. Official death toll estimates exceed 138,000 fatalities1 making it the eighth deadliest cyclone ever recorded worldwide. Since the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which caused up to 500,000 fatalities, Nargis represents the deadliest tropical cyclone worldwide and one of the worst natural disasters, with the exceptions of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. The Bay of Bengal has generated seven tropical cyclones with death tolls in excess of 100,000 striking India and Bangladesh (Supplementary Fig. 1). Damage estimates at over $10 billion made Nargis the most destructive cyclone ever recorded in the Indian Ocean. Here we analyse the cause of the humanitarian disaster based on physical and societal observations.

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Figure 1: Field observations of the cyclone Nargis storm surge in Myanmar, which made landfall on 2 May 2008.

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Acknowledgements

This research was in part supported by the Department of International Development's Pyoe Pin Programme, UK. The disaster zone access was made possible by P. Win (Mingalar Myanmar), Y. M. Htoon (Myanmar Development Foundation), J. Broadhead (United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization), A. M. Kyu (National Committee for Environmental Affairs) and U. Soe Kyi (Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement). We also acknowledge the World Food Program for providing a helicopter exit flight.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah, 31407, Georgia, USA

    Hermann M. Fritz & Christopher D. Blount

  2. Myanmar Coastal Conservation Society, Yangon, Union of Myanmar

    Swe Thwin

  3. Mingalar Myanmar NGO, Yangon, Union of Myanmar

    Swe Thwin, Moe Kyaw Thu & Nyein Chan

Authors
  1. Hermann M. Fritz
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  2. Christopher D. Blount
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  3. Swe Thwin
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  4. Moe Kyaw Thu
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  5. Nyein Chan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hermann M. Fritz.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Supplementary Information (PDF 690 kb)

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Fritz, H., Blount, C., Thwin, S. et al. Cyclone Nargis storm surge in Myanmar. Nature Geosci 2, 448–449 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo558

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