The monsoon is a seasonal reversing wind and precipitation pattern caused by asymmetric heating of land and sea. It brings heavy rainfall to parts of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. The monsoon is crucial but also dangerous, as it can cause flooding, mudslides, contaminated water, and increased disease. Communities depend on the monsoon for agriculture but many lives are lost each year due to monsoon-related conditions. The timing and amount of rainfall during the monsoon season is difficult to predict and control, making it a major factor for life and death in affected areas.

2. Monsoon
• Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing
wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation,
but is now used to describe seasonal changes in
atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with
the asymmetric heating of land and sea. Usually, the term
monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a
seasonally-changing pattern, although technically there is
also a dry phase. The major monsoon systems of the world
consist of the West African and Asia-Australian monsoons.
The term was first used in English in British India (now
India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) and neighboring countries
to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of
Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy
rainfall to the area

3. The Monsoon is a Life and Death Issue
• A successful crop year depends on when the wet
monsoon season starts, how much rain falls, and when
the season ends. Only nature can control these
factors.
• The monsoon also causes damages: roads and
bridges washed out, mudslides, railroad tracks
misaligned or washed out, flooding, water supply
contamination, increase in disease vectors (insects).
• Ironically, many die each year from monsoon related
conditions while all life in the area is ultimately
dependant on the wet monsoon for life.

4. A photo of dark stormy clouds
over the city of Lucknow,India.

5. Onset dates
and prevailing
wind currents of
the southwest
summer
monsoons in
India.

8. Children swim in a water-logged
street in Kolkata, India

9. Indian farmers plant paddy seedlings in a field on the outskirts
of Hyderabad. India, the second-biggest producer of rice, wheat
and sugar, may have “bumper” harvests because of good
rainfall, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said

10. Children play on a flooded street in Kolkata

11. Children enjoy the monsoon rain in Mayong, a village
about 45 km from Guwahati, northeast India

12. Indian police and civilians take shelter at a bus
terminal in Srinagar, Kashmir

13. Commuters ride through a waterlogged street in
the rain in Jammu, India

14. People run in the
rain in Jammu, India

15. Monsoon clouds hover over workers at a Metro
rail construction site in New Delhi

16. A commuter wears a
plastic bag over his head
as he rides his scooter
through a waterlogged
street following a
downpour in Amritsar

17. A woman pushes a
wheelchair carrying her
disabled daughter as
they cross a flooded
street in Lahore,
Pakistan

18. People wade through flood waters in Lahore

19. Commuters walk along a flooded road in Lahore

20. A man pushes a bicycle along a flooded street
after heavy monsoon rains in Lahore

21. A man pushes his handcart through a flooded
street in Lahore

22. A vendor pushes his cart with children through a
flooded street after heavy monsoon rainfall in Lahore

23. Commuters travel during rain in Karachi,
Pakistan

24. Heavy vehicles line up in a traffic jam on Prithvi
Highway near Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, after a
landslide caused by monsoon rains

26. Mudslide in Bhutan

27. Road damage

28. Washed-out Road

29. Flood damage

30. Accelerated erosion

31. Railroad track damage

32. Rajanpur district

33. Damaged bridge in Sikkim

34. Members of the Pakistan army distribute relief goods in
the flooded areas of the Rajanpur district August 9,
2008. Monsoon rains and flash floods cause extensive
damage in the region every year.