In a shocking revelation, a latest study says that Chattogram is among sprawling coastal cities in South and Southeast Asia that are sinking faster than elsewhere in the world.
The unwanted development leaves tens of millions of people more vulnerable to rising sea levels, adds the study Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), published in the journal Nature Sustainability last week.
The researchers find rapid urbanisation as the major reason behind the situation, with these cities drawing heavily on groundwater to service their burgeoning populations.
"This puts cities experiencing rapid local land subsidence at greater risk of coastal hazards than already present due to climate-driven sea-level rise," they say.
Vietnam's most-populous urban centre and main business hub, Ho Chi Minh City, was sinking an average of 16.2 millimetres (0.6 inches) annually, topping the study's survey of satellite data from 48 large coastal cities around the world.
Chattogram is second on the list, with the western Indian city Ahmedabad, Indonesian capital Jakarta and Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon also sinking more than 20 millimetres in peak years.
"Many of these fast-subsiding coastal cities are rapidly expanding megacities, where... high demands for groundwater extraction and loading from densely constructed building structures, contribute to local land subsidence," the study says.
Sinking cities are not of themselves a result of climate change, but researchers said their work would give a better insight into how the phenomenon would "compound the effects of climate-driven mean sea-level rise".
A city that hosts millions, Chattogram very often goes under water even after a mild shower during winter.
