This paper explores peoples' indigenous survival strategies and assesses variations in people's ability to cope with floods in two flood-prone villages in Bangladesh. It reveals that people continuously battle against flood vulnerability in accordance with their level of exposure and abilities, with varied strategies employed at different geophysical locations. The paper reports that people in an area with low flooding and with better socioeconomic circumstances are more likely to cope with impacts compared to people in areas with high and sudden flooding. Similarly, households' ability to cope varies depending on people's socioeconomic conditions, such as education, income and occupation. Although floods in Bangladesh generate socioeconomic misery and cause damage to the environment, health and infrastructure, people's indigenous coping strategies have helped them to reduce significantly their vulnerability. Such flood-mitigating strategies should be well recognised and emphasised further via proper dissemination of information through an early-warning system and subsequently external assistance.
The purpose of this research is to explore indigenous coping strategies and identify underlying demographic, socio-economic and other relevant variables that influence the adoption of coping strategies in three distinct cyclone-prone coastal villages of Bangladesh. The study finds that cyclones and induced surges are a recurrent phenomenon in coastal Bangladesh; hence people are used to adjusting their lifestyle and adopting their own coping strategies intelligently. Adoption of a particular set of coping strategies depends not only on the magnitude, intensity and potential impacts of the cyclone and induced surge, but also age, gender, social class, dissemination of early warning information, locational exposure, external assistance, social protection and informal risk sharing mechanisms within the community. Indigenous cyclone disaster prevention and mitigation strategies significantly minimize the vulnerability of the people. Under extreme situations, when such disasters surpass the shock-bearing capacity of the victims, informal risk sharing mechanisms through social bonding and social safety-nets become vital for shortterm survival and long-term livelihood security. Therefore, proper monitoring and understanding of local indigenous coping strategies are essential in order to target the most vulnerable groups exposed to disasters. Additionally, proper dissemination of early warning and government and non-government partnerships for relief and rehabilitation activities should be prioritized to ensure pro-poor disaster management activities. The study also recommends effective monitoring of the impact of aid to ensure corrective measures to avoid the development of relief dependency by disaster victims.
Vulnerability has no universal definition. Experts from various disciplines use the concept and define vulnerability, which leads diverse measuring methods to serve their own purpose and interests. Approaches to define vulnerability vary among the disciplines because of the various components of risk, household response and welfare outcomes. The objective of this paper is to present an overview based on available scientific literature from various disciplines to examine the origin, evolution and use of the vulnerability concept across different field of studies. Vulnerability is exclusively used in various disciplines such as geography, anthropology, economics, ecology, public health, poverty and development, sustainable livelihoods, famine and food security, sustainability science, land management, disaster management and climate change. Therefore, different disciplines have their own reasons for defining, measuring and developing conceptual models of vulnerability; hence there is no reason to presume that concepts, measures and methods will be universal across the disciplines. Lessons learned from one area may not be equally suitable for all. Hence, differences between various fields need to be bridged by a holistic approach and multidisciplinary research cooperation, and geography as a unique multidisciplinary field of study has the major disciplinary legitimacy to fill up the gaps and to create a common platform to work together in vulnerability research among the various research traditions.Key words: Vulnerability, risk, human ecology, disaster, climate change, geography. mvivsk: wecboe Zvi me© RbMÖ vn¨ †Kvb msÁv †bB| wewfboe wWwmwc− ‡bi we ‡klÁMY G aviYvwU e¨envi K ‡i Ges wecboe Zv ‡K msÁvwqZ K ‡i, hv wbR¯^ j ¶¨ I D ‡Ïk¨ cĩ ‡Yi Rb¨ wfboe cwigvc c×wZi D™¢ veb K ‡ib| Su z wKi wewfboe Dcv`vb, Lvbvi cÖ wZwµqv Ges Kj¨vY mva ‡bi Rb¨ wecboe Zv ‡K msÁvwqZ Kivi `" wófw½mgñ wewfboe wWwmwc− ‡bi g ‡a¨ c" _K nq| GB cÖ e ‡Üi D ‡Ïk¨ nj wewfboe wWwmwc− ‡bi mgmvgwqK ˆeÁvwbK M ‡elYv n ‡Z cÖ vß Ávb Øviv wecboe Zv aviYvi DrcwË, weeZ© b Ges wewfboe cwVZ wel ‡q wKfv ‡e e¨eüZ nq Zv wbix ¶v Kiv| wecboe Zv ¯Ẑš¿ fv ‡e wewfboe wWwmwc− ‡b e¨eüZ nq †hgb, f‚ ‡Mvj, b" weÁvb, A_© bxwZ, ev¯Í e¨we`¨v, Rb¯v¯', `vwi`ª Zv Ges Dboe qb, †UKmB RxweKv, `wf© ¶ Ges Lv`¨ wbivcËv, †UKmB weÁvb, f‚ wg e¨e¯' vcbv, `y ‡h© vM e¨e¯' vcbv Ges Rjevqy cwieZ© b| G Rb¨ wecboe Zv ‡K msÁvwqZ Kiv, cwigvc Kiv Ges KíbvcÖ my Z g ‡Wj ˆZwi Kivi † ¶ ‡Î wewfboe wWwmwc− ‡bi wbR¯^ KviY i ‡q ‡Q| G Rb¨ GUv g ‡b Kivi †Kvb KviY †bB †h, wecboe Zvi aviYv, cwigvc Ges c×wZ wewfboe wWwmwc− ‡bi g ‡a¨ me© RbMÖ vn¨ n ‡e| GKwU welq †_ ‡K AwR© Z Ávb mKj wel ‡qi † ¶ ‡Î mgfv ‡e Dc ‡hvMx bvI n ‡Z cv ‡i| GRb¨ wewfboe wel ‡qi g ‡a¨ †h cv_© K¨mgñ i ‡q ‡Q †m¸ ‡jv mvgwMÖ K `" wófw½ Ges gvwëwWwmwc− bvwi M ‡elYv mn ‡hvwMZvi gva¨ ‡g †mZz eÜb iPbv Kiv cÖ ‡qvRbxq| f‚ ‡Mvj GKwU gvwëwWwmwc− bvwi welq nIqvq Gi cÖ avb welqMZ ˆeaZv i ‡q ‡Q GB kỸ¨¯' vb cĩY Kiv Ges GKwU mvaviY g ˆZwi Kiv †hLv ‡b wecboe Zv wb ‡q M ‡elYvKvix wewfboe M ‡elYv cÖ _v GK ‡Î KvR Ki ‡Z cv ‡i|
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