Household response to cyclone and induced surge in coastal Bangladesh: coping strategies and explanatory variables

Abstract

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.

Evolving deltas: Coevolution with engineered interventions

“…For example, the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, is vulnerable to frequent and powerful cyclones, which form over the Bay of Bengal (Ali, 1999). Bangladesh is low lying, densely populated and has a high percentage of its population in poverty, all of which have led to an increased vulnerability to the effects of cyclones (Paul and Routray, 2011). The cyclone in 1991 killed 138,000 people (Bern et al, 1993) in addition to damaging water supplies, causing loss of earnings and infrastructural damage, as well as many other long and short term impacts (Paul and Routray, 2011).…”

“…Bangladesh is low lying, densely populated and has a high percentage of its population in poverty, all of which have led to an increased vulnerability to the effects of cyclones (Paul and Routray, 2011). The cyclone in 1991 killed 138,000 people (Bern et al, 1993) in addition to damaging water supplies, causing loss of earnings and infrastructural damage, as well as many other long and short term impacts (Paul and Routray, 2011). In order to help protect the vulnerable population that are exposed to cyclones, the government and non-governmental organisations (NGO's) have implemented a cyclone warning system and cyclone shelters within villages that are most at risk.…”

The current cyclone early warning system in Bangladesh: Providers' and receivers' views

“…Previous research evaluating the cyclone early warning system in Bangladesh has only considered the residents' perspective: the residents' perception of risk, their vulnerability to TCs, their indigenous coping strategies and their response to warnings [5,9,34,36,39]. The process of TC forecasting and warning at BMD, which notably plays an important role in cyclone early warning, has remained unaddressed.…”

“…As a result, residents' response to evacuation orders has improved considerably during the last decades [4][5][6]. Although residents' current evacuation response rate is still not satisfactory, further improvements could be difficult to achieve without resolving technical issues associated with early warnings as well as infrastructural problems (improved cyclone shelters, road communication, and housing) [4,[7][8][9].…”

Social protection as a strategy to address climate-induced migration

“…A number of studies already mentioned social protection as a potential means to climate change adaptation (Béné et al, 2014;Coirolo et al, 2013;Foresight, 2011;Johnson, 2009;Johnson and Krishnamurthy, 2010;Kuriakose et al, 2013;Martin, 2013;Panda, 2013;Paul and Routray, 2011;Subbarao et al, 2013;Weldegebriel and Prowse, 2013). The topic further gained attention in the international climate negotiations with the introduction of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.…”