Study justification Bangladesh is situated in a region which is highly vulnerable to flood To the north west of the country the world s largest mountains the Himalayas is located Around 80 of the country involves the combined delta of the Ganges the Brahmaputra and the Meghna river basin with a total catchment area of 1 8 million km2 There are as many as 700 tributaries of these rivers The ultimate effect of the rivers is next to that of Amazon Islam 2011 The most severe flood occurs during the months of July and August and regular river floods affect 20 of the country increasing up to 68 in extreme years The floods of 1988 1998 2004 and 2017 were particularly catastrophic responsible for large scale destruction and loss of lives Land use human activities are directly related to land making use of its resources or having an impact upon it Land cover is the physical characteristics of the land while land use is a basis of human activities under a socio economic context Flood hazard maps can be used as an effective tool for water resource as well as urban planning by design engineers to assess the vulnerability of the infrastructure and residents of that area to flood events Fernandez and Lutz 2010 Approximately 40 of the total natural disasters worldwide are due to flooding Ohl and Tapsell 2000 The land use pattern change is the main reason for ecosystem change Waroux 2011 Owrangi et al 2014 Although the flood hazard disasters caused by natural calamities cannot be prevented the magnitude of impact can be reduced Dewan et al 2006
