Bangladesh is located in the low-lying Ganges-Brahmabutra River Delta or Ganges Delta. This delta is formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmabutra and Meghna rivers and their respective tributaries. It is once part of the Indian state of Bengal. Bangladesh occupies part of the north eastern corner of the Indian subcontinent. It is surrounded by India apart from a short boarder with Myanmar and its 580 kilometre coastline. Most of the coastline is not continuous but broken up by the channels of delta. There are many rivers which flow through the delta and end up at the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. These rivers are the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna etc. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra start in the Himalaya Mountains. In Bangladesh the Ganges is known as the Padma and the Brahmaputra becomes the Jamuna. These rivers drain about 2500000 sq kilometres of land. The land of Bangladesh is very flat and low. The highest point is the hills in the north east and southeast. About 15 percents of land is covered with forests. More than 75 percent of Bangladesh is less than 10 meters above sea level. Bangladesh is the largest delta in the world. The area of Bangladesh is 55126Sq Miles.

Bangladesh is hot and humid in summer and cool in winter. During the monsoon, it rains heavily average rainfall being 136. The climate is characterised by moderately high temperature for about eight months in the year, maximum temperature in summer ranges between 30 and 38, while the minimum during the winter is 9. There were several seasons for the severity of the flooding. Firstly, there were unusually high monsoon rains. Secondly, the Hymalayasshed off an equally unusually high amount of melt water that year. Lastly, trees that usually intercept rain water were cut down for fire wood or to make space for animals.

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