Which river has the largest delta in the world?
The Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta is a river delta in the Bengal region of South Asia, consisting of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the world's largest delta and empties into the Bay of Bengal. It is also one of the most fertile regions in the world, thus earning the nickname The Green Delta. The Delta stretches from the Hooghly River on the west to the Meghna River on the east.
The interweaving network of streams that make up the Ganges Delta in South Asia is formed by the joining of three rivers – the Padma, Jamuna, and Meghna rivers. More than 100 million people (mostly Bangladeshi) call the Delta home, relying mostly on rice, tea and other crops for subsistence. The region is also inhabited by around 1,000 endangered Bengal tigers.
Since the turn of the century, the delta has become ground zero for a host of devastating natural disasters. In 1970, the region was ravaged by the Bhola cyclone, one of the deadliest on record. In 1991, the Bangladesh cyclone killed an estimated 138,000 people. Just seven years later, the Ganges flooded the delta, leaving more than 30 million people homeless and wiping out rice crops and threatening the entire nation’s food supply.
The Ganges delta is also particularly vulnerable to climate change since further melting of glaciers and snow from the Himalayan mountains can lead to more severe floods.
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