Bangladesh is a remote South Asian country, about the size of Florida, bounded on three sides by India. Since independence in 1971, acquired in a bloody civil war from the politically and militarily dominant western wing of Pakistan, Bangladesh has known only mounting adversities. Geographically the country is an alluvial plain formed by the confluence of two major rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Climatically it is a wash-basin of hurricanes sweeping north from the Bay of Bengal, and regular monsoon flooding from over-flowing rivers. But if it is not watched and adequate preventive measures not taken, Bangladesh could well...