Urbanization is closely associated with land use land cover (LULC) changes that correspond to land surface temperature (LST) variation and urban heat island (UHI) intensity. Major districts of Bangladesh have a large population base and commonly lack the resources to manage fast urbanization effects, so any rise in urban temperature influences the population both directly and indirectly. However, little is known about the impact of rapid urbanization on UHI intensity variations during the winter dry period in the major districts of Bangladesh. To this end, we aim to quantify spatiotemporal associations of UHI intensity during the winter period between 2000 and 2019 using remote-sensing and geo-spatial tools. Landsat-8 and Landsat-5 imageries of these major districts during the dry winter period from 2000 to 2020 were used for this purpose, with overall precision varying from 81% to 93%. The results of LULC classification and LST estimation showed the existence of multiple UHIs in all major districts, which showed upward trends, except for the Rajshahi and Rangpur districts. A substantial increase in urban expansion was observed in Barisal > 32%, Mymensingh > 18%, Dhaka > 17%, Chattogram > 14%, and Rangpur > 13%, while a significant decrease in built-up areas was noticed in Sylhet < −1.45% and Rajshahi < −3.72%. We found that large districts have greater UHIs than small districts. High UHI intensities were observed in Mymensingh > 10 °C, Chattogram > 9 °C, and Barisal > 8 °C compared to other districts due to dense population and unplanned urbanization. We identified higher LST (hotspots) zones in all districts to be increased with the urban expansion and bare land. The suburbanized strategy should prioritize the restraint of the high intensity of UHIs. A heterogeneous increase in UHI intensity over all seven districts was found, which might have potential implications for regional climate change. Our study findings will enable policymakers to reduce UHI and the climate change effect in the concerned districts.

Tropical cyclones devastate large areas, take numerous lives and damage extensive property in Bangladesh. Research on landfalling tropical cyclones affecting Bangladesh has primarily focused on events occurring since AD 1960 with limited work examining earlier historical records. We rectify this gap by developing a new tropical cyclone catalogue that maximizes the use of available sources. The catalogue consists of 304 tropical cyclones that occurred between AD 1000 and AD 2009 and made landfall along the coasts of Bangladesh, eastern India and Myanmar. One hundred and ninety‐three events directly struck Bangladesh between AD 1484 and AD 2009, although the precise landfall location of six events is unknown. Of the remaining 187 events, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Barisal and Khulna were struck by 30, 46, 19, 41 and 51 tropical cyclones, respectively. There is a paucity of data about tropical cyclones before AD 1900 and this increases the further back in time we go. Inconsistencies in reported storm surge height, wind speed and exaggerations in the reporting of deaths are identified and discussed. Some 20 72 509 human deaths in Bangladesh are associated with 71 tropical cyclones that occurred between AD 1484 and AD 2009. Between AD 1923 and AD 2009, 11 tropical cyclones caused 94 35 000 people to become homeless and between AD 1961 and AD 2009, 10 tropical cyclones resulted in economic damage of over US$ 4.6 billion. Analysis of the deaths and damage associated with tropical cyclones in AD 1970, AD 1991 and AD 2007 indicates that while the number of deaths decreased between events, economic damage and the number of people made homeless increased. There are positive and significant correlations between increasing storm surge height and increasing human fatalities (r = 0.60, p < 0.01) and increasing human injuries and greater wind speed (r = 0.45, p < 0.01). Despite our best efforts, the catalogue is incomplete. As such, we suggest further ‘deep’ archival research coupled with regional geological studies of palaeostorm events to gain a more sophisticated understanding of the hazard. Our results have implications for both risk assessment and disaster risk reduction.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a pandemic within a matter of months. Analysing the first year of the pandemic, data and surveillance gaps have subsequently surfaced. Yet, policy decisions and public trust in their country’s strategies in combating COVID-19 rely on case numbers, death numbers and other unfamiliar metrics. There are many limitations on COVID-19 case counts internationally, which make cross-country comparisons of raw data and policy responses difficult. Purpose and conclusions: This paper presents and describes steps in the testing and reporting process, with examples from a number of countries of barriers encountered in each step, all of which create an undercount of COVID-19 cases. This work raises factors to consider in COVID-19 data and provides recommendations to inform the current situation with COVID-19 as well as issues to be aware of in future pandemics.

Over the last thirty years, Bangladesh has been experiencing hill cutting problems and subsequent landslide occurrence in its southeastern hilly region. Since 2000, landslides have caused over 500 deaths, mostly in informal settlements in southeast Bangladesh. The most significant single event was the 2007 landslide causing 127 deaths in Chittagong’s informal settlements. The landslide events took over 110 people in Rangamati on 12 June 2017. In the scenario of rising deaths by landslides in the southeastern region, this research aimed to understand communities’ landslide hazard knowledge, reasons for living in at-risk areas, risk perception and preparedness. This research applied both quantitative (i.e., structural questionnaire) and qualitative (i.e., semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire and informal interviews) data collection techniques to assess hill-top and hill-side dwellers knowledge, risk perception and preparedness to landslides in southeast Bangladesh. The investigation conducted face-to-face interviews with 208 community members, 15 key informant interviews, three Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and field observations and visits in southeast Bangladesh. The findings suggest that unplanned development activities, overpopulation, settlement along hill slopes and ineffective disaster risk reduction efforts are the anthropogenic contributories accompanying climate-change induced increased torrential rainfall are the main reasons for the increase of landslide occurrence. The results suggest that community members perceive a low-risk for landslides, despite the community’s location in high-risk areas. The community’s perception of low risk results in a lack of preparedness and an unwillingness to relocate a comparatively safer place. It was noted that landslide disaster preparation depends on the communities’ development maturity, house ownership, ethnicity, gender and economic status of the residents. It is suggested that the place of relocation for residents living in the high-risk areas should be selected with full consideration of psychosocial aspects of the community, particularly providing acceptable livelihood options.