News Release

Educators help create new geography education standards dealing with natural disasters in Bangladesh

Grant and Award Announcement

Kansas State University

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- American students will soon find out what the South Asian country of Bangladesh and the Midwestern state of Iowa have in common.

Bimal Paul, a Kansas State University professor of geography and a published expert on natural disasters, said Bangladesh and Iowa are both prone to flooding and tornados, have similar geography when it comes to size and rivers, and that agriculture is the dominant economy in both places.

Paul, a native of Bangladesh, traveled with a dozen American K-12 teachers and two professors from the state of Iowa, in July on a 28-day trip to Bangladesh. Their aim was to develop U.S. geography standards and curricular materials on how the nation copes with natural disasters.

The three professors were awarded a $64,000 Fulbright-Hays grant for their project, "Natural Hazards and Related Health Issues in Bangladesh: Standards and Issues based Geography Curricular Projects for Grades K-16."

The average U.S. student has little to no knowledge of the country Bangladesh, Paul said. Bangladesh is one of the largest populated countries in the world with nearly 150 million people, but one of the smaller countries in the world with only 56,000 square miles, he said.

The group visited various disaster- affected areas in Bangladesh and interviewed people to find out how they cope and continue their regular lives, Paul said.

"We have disasters here in the U.S., but disasters here are different because we have the manpower and money to overcome them," Paul said. "Bangladesh is a poor country and we wanted to show students how they cope."

"We were quite surprised to find the people in Bangladesh expect flooding of some sort every year, and because of that, they have personal coping strategies," said Weller, co-project leader and a professor at the University of Northern Iowa. Weller also the coordinator of the Geographic Alliance of Iowa. Rex Honey of the University of Iowa also is a co-project leader.

Building their homes on higher elevations and growing certain crops that can grow with flood water are just some of the ways the people of Bangladesh cope with flooding, Paul said.

Disasters also can be viewed differently by children and adults, which Paul plans to incorporate into the lesson plans. Paul said when he was a child, flooding season was a joyful event for him -- but not for his father, who owns agricultural land cultivated by tenant farmers.

"In flood time, the children in Bangladesh can be happy," Paul said. "You can eat more fish, ride boats and eat a traditional sweet cake made of rice flour and molasses available during flood time."

Lesson plans and a DVD with video footage taken in Bangladesh will be available on the Geographic Alliance of Iowa Web site next year for public classroom use, Weller said. The material will be taught at various regional and national conferences. In Iowa, there will be a workshop Feb. 15-17, 2008, and the new lessons will be taught in the classroom next year.

"As students are more exposed to other cultures and geography they begin to understand the world much better," Weller said.

Richard Marston, university distinguished professor of geography and head of K-State's department of geography, said when someone in the world seeks an expert on the impact of natural disasters in North America or Asia they call Paul. Paul has worked on many quick response reports with the Natural Hazards Center. He and several graduate students have researched public response to tornado warnings, particularly in Kansas. After Hurricane Katrina, Paul was a co-primary investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to study the effectiveness of mandatory hurricane evacuation orders.

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