Listing for change? Exploring the politics of relief lists in Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr

Abstract

Ideal notions of efficient aid are challenged continuously by realities on the ground in the wake of major disasters, such as dire needs, limited resources, and opportunism. This paper demonstrates how ‘relief lists’ can be productive entry points for a systematic inquiry into the pervasive politics of disaster assistance. Through an analysis of qualitative data collected during the five years after Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh on 15 November 2007, it examines how relief lists featured in both physical and phantom forms and then developed beyond their transparency‐making aims, becoming elevated sites of struggle for post‐disaster resources. Three list processes, selected to indicate the temporal, material, and spatial dynamics of relief encounters, are assessed in depth. Although recipients of cyclone relief appreciated its value, the paper argues that list politics also stimulated structures of vulnerability, including inequality. Gradually, relief, as governed after Sidr, also served to restore the differential vulnerability of the country's coastal poor.

Political Impact on Natural Disaster Management and the Influence of Civil Society: Cases of Two Cyclones in Bangladesh

“…Through review of the relief lists, Maren Aase (2020) showed the relief politics in the article entitled "Listing for change? Exploring the politics of relief lists in Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr."…”

“…So, compared with the previous governments the law enforcements were stricter and more effective (Irfanullah, 2023). The Geographer of the Arab World described the relief after Sidr as more well-organized than expected and emphasized national politics (Aase, 2020). As Bangladesh's politics has been divided into two poles for many years and in 2007 as well, the political parties were unable to run their activities.…”

“…From this cyclone, the lives of millions of people were highly affected and "between 200,000 and 500,000 people" died (Biswas and Daly, 2020). On the other hand, Sidr affected nine million people (Aase, 2020), making the humanitarian situation in coastal areas vulnerable. Bhola occurred during the time of United Pakistan (West and East Pakistan) and influenced the partition of the country.…”

Routledge Handbook of Autocratization in South Asia

“…For example, many Sidr-affected people just barely survived with help from neighbours with slightly sturdier houses, because public shelters were too few, too far away, in too dangerous conditions or full. Invisible is also the supply of financial and technical means that (government, bureaucratic and NGO) elites can seize to manipulate post-cyclone relief and recovery (Aase, 2020;Nadiruzzaman and Wrathall, 2015). Lastly, development strategies that have concentrated political power on few hands (van Schendel, 2009) are shielded from review.…”

The mohol: The hidden power structure of Bangladesh local politics

“…They can be charismatic (Hansen and Verkaaik 2009), violent (Berenschot 2011; Jackman 2019; Michelutti and Martin 2017) or just help organise and put people in touch with one another (e.g., Manor 2000). Some just happen to be in the right place at the right time, such as non-governmental organisations (NGO)-workers in disaster zones (Aase 2019). Some excel because of a personal network and personal powers of persuasion (Alm 2010; Krishna 2011), and others try out pretence, trickery and the performance of might (Michelutti et al 2018).…”