A new catalogue of tropical cyclones of the northern Bay of Bengal and the distribution and effects of selected landfalling events in Bangladesh

Alam, Edris; Dominey‐Howes, Dale

doi:10.1002/joc.4035

Cited by 100 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…This decrease in fatalities could arguably be a measure of the improvement in community resilience. Figure 3 shows the number of deaths caused by cyclones (Alam & Dominey-Howes, 2015) and the risk-reduction measures that have been implemented that have increased the population's resilience to coastal floods. This section outlines the measures that have been employed over the past 55 years in Bangladesh and the impact that they have had on increasing community resilience.…”

Section: Systematic Review Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing resilience to coastal flooding from severe storms in the USA: international lessons

Lumbroso

Suckall

Nicholls

et al. 2017

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Recent events in the USA have highlighted a lack of resilience in the coastal population to coastal flooding, especially amongst disadvantaged and isolated communities. Some low-income countries, such as Cuba and Bangladesh, have made significant progress towards transformed societies that are more resilient to the impacts of cyclones and coastal flooding. To understand how this has come about, a systematic review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature related to resilience of communities to coastal flooding was undertaken in both countries. In both Cuba and Bangladesh the trust between national and local authorities, community leaders and civil society is high. As a consequence evacuation warnings are generally followed and communities are well prepared. As a result over the past 25 years in Bangladesh the number of deaths directly related to cyclones and coastal flooding has decreased, despite an increase of almost 50 % in the number of people exposed to these hazards. In Cuba, over the course of eight hurricanes between 2003 and 2011, the normalized number of deaths related to cyclones and coastal floods was an order of magnitude less than in the USA. In low-income countries, warning systems and effective shelter/evacuation systems, combined with high levels of disaster risk-reduction education and social cohesion, coupled with trust between government authorities and vulnerable communities can help to increase resilience to coastal hazards and tropical cyclones. In the USA, transferable lessons include improving communication and the awareness of the risk posed by coastal surges, mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into the education system and building trusted community networks to help isolated and disadvantaged communities, and improve community resilience.

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Section: Systematic Review Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing resilience to coastal flooding from severe storms in the USA: international lessons

Lumbroso

Suckall

Nicholls

et al. 2017

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Climate change is expected to affect the frequency and intensity of cyclones, with increased ocean temperatures, and worse effects of associated storm surges as a result of sea level rise (Alam & Dominey-Howes, 2015). There is no evidence to suggest that Aila and…”

Section: Rainfall Is Very Irregular Now In the Past The Rain Came Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While Bangladesh receives only one per cent of global cyclones, the country has experienced 50 per cent of casualties globally (Alam & Dominey-Howes, 2015). This is partly the result of high exposure -the geographic characteristics of the Bay of Bengal traps cyclones, while a low continental shelf amplifies the impact of storm surges (Yu et al, 2012).…”

Section: Climate Change In Bangladeshmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is partly the result of high exposure -the geographic characteristics of the Bay of Bengal traps cyclones, while a low continental shelf amplifies the impact of storm surges (Yu et al, 2012). There have also been historical limitation in storm warning systems (Alam & Dominey-Howes, 2015). Climate change is expected to exacerbate many of these existing environmental patterns.…”

Section: Climate Change In Bangladeshmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…L. Khan, 2012 3 ). Increased sea-surface temperature is likely to lead to increased frequency of cyclones, floods, storms and tidal surges Alam & Dominey-Howes, 2015;Karim & Mimura, 2008). Sea level rise and storm surges are predicted to increase salinity .…”

Section: Climate Change In Bangladeshmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate change adaptation in Southwest Bangladesh: vulnerability and gender inequality

MacMahon¹

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The threat of climate change looms large for Bangladesh, located between the Ganges Delta and the Bay of Bengal. Climate change is expected to impact the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh, particularly those who live in coastal areas and are poor or disadvantaged. Women are considered to be particularly vulnerable as a result of gendered roles, responsibilities and limited entitlements. While there is a growing body of work regarding the ways in which gender, class, and livelihoods contribute to climate change vulnerability in Bangladesh, there is little scholarship examining adaptation in terms of its capacity to address the social and political aspects of vulnerability. In addition, much gender and climate change research suffers from static representations of women and gender relations.To address these gaps in the literature, this thesis uses adaptive capacity vulnerability theory, in conjunction with feminist political ecology, to examine the transformative capacity of adaptation initiatives in the Bagerhat region of Southwest of Bangladesh. By adopting a bottom-up approach to social enquiry, this thesis investigates, 1) The nature and community experiences of environmental and climate changes in the region; 2) The social factors that mediate experiences of environmental and climate change, including gender, class and governance; and 3) The ways in which adaptation initiatives interact with underlying causes of vulnerability, with a focus gender.Employing an embedded case study approach and utilising a range of participatory methods, this thesis makes four key findings. Firstly, climate change in Southwest Bangladesh is situated within local political, economic and ecological contexts. The impacts of climate change were found to be 'magnifying' a range of pre-existing environmental challenges that have occurred as a result of political and economic interventions in agriculture in the Southwest. Secondly, women's experiences of, and responses to, environmental change were being shaped by gendered roles, responsibilities and expectations. Gender in this context was undergoing changes as a result of material needs, and women's own agentic desires to help their communities. However, these shifts were having little impact on women's broader capabilities and entitlements. Thirdly, the adaptation initiatives observed were doing little to enhance community capacities in climate change adaptation, and were failing to respond to macro political and economic issues. Most adaptation initiatives, including small-scale improvements to farming and livelihoods, had largely failed to address poverty, gender inequality or the underlying causes of environmental change. Rather, these iii initiatives were assigning obligations to communities, allowing governments to abdicate their responsibilities. Finally, what these findings suggest is that in order to initiate adaptation measures that are sustainable and socially just, there is a need for an approach that is inclusive and transform...

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A comparison of two global datasets of extreme sea levels and resulting flood exposure

et al. 2017

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Estimating the current risk of coastal flooding requires adequate information on extreme sea levels. For over a decade, the only global data available was the DINAS-COAST Extreme Sea Levels (DCESL) dataset, which applies a static approximation to estimate extreme sea levels. Recently, a dynamically derived dataset was developed: the Global Tide and Surge Reanalysis (GTSR) dataset. Here, we compare the two datasets. The differences between DCESL and GTSR are generally larger than the confidence intervals of GTSR. Compared to observed extremes, DCESL generally overestimates extremes with a mean bias of 0.6 m. With a mean bias of −0.2 m GTSR generally underestimates extremes, particularly in the tropics. The Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment model is applied to calculate the present-day flood exposure in terms of the land area and the population below the 1 in 100-year sea levels. Global exposed population is 28% lower when based on GTSR instead of DCESL. Considering the limited data available at the time, DCESL provides a good estimate of the spatial variation in extremes around the world. However, GTSR allows for an improved assessment of the impacts of coastal floods, including confidence bounds. We further improve the assessment of coastal impacts by correcting for the conflicting vertical datum of sea-level extremes and land elevation, which has not been accounted for in previous global assessments. Converting the extreme sea levels to the same vertical reference used for the elevation data is shown to be a critical step resulting in 39-59% higher estimate of population exposure.

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A new catalogue of tropical cyclones of the northern Bay of Bengal and the distribution and effects of selected landfalling events in Bangladesh

Cited by 100 publications

References 63 publications

Enhancing resilience to coastal flooding from severe storms in the USA: international lessons

Enhancing resilience to coastal flooding from severe storms in the USA: international lessons

Climate change adaptation in Southwest Bangladesh: vulnerability and gender inequality

A comparison of two global datasets of extreme sea levels and resulting flood exposure

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