Application of Remote Sensing and GIS for Flood Monitoring and Mitigation Measures in Munshiganj District

The objectives of the project were: 1) To develop a methodology for detecting area affected by flooding in the Munshiganj district of Bangladesh using satellite data, 2) To identify the mitigation measures for future planning using GIS analysis.

      The study area, Munshiganj district is located in the flood prone area on the mixed floodplains of rivers the Ganges (Padma), the Brahmaputra (Jamuna), and the Meghna. Archived of Japanese satellites data (ADEOS/JERS), Landsat and RADARSAT images were used to develop the methodology and to monitor the flood-affected area. All the raster data (ADEOS, JERS, RADARSAT and Landsat TM) were geo-referenced to BTM projection using control points derived from the vector data layers generated using the ortho-rectified aerial photographs. Settlements, agricultural land and water bodies were visually interpreted on ADEOS/AVNIR (10 December 1996) and Landsat TM (17 February 2002) images. The RADARSAT image was digitally classified into flooded and non-flooded areas using a simple threshold box classification technique. A field trip has been carried out to collect information on the present landuse in the study area and development of interpretation keys for generation of flood data layer from the RADARSAT image of the study area. The results showed that almost all union of this district has been inundated by floodwater. In terms of area and population affected by flood, the highest figure of area and population affected was in Serajdikhan (160.97 km2 and 63010 people affected) and the lowest number was found in Tangibari (54.08 km2 and 24579 people affected).