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

Abstract

If we analyze the history of natural disasters relating to political impacts, we can see that there are many direct or indirect impacts of disaster management, including the aid distribution in the political arena. The political scenario concerns how the government is handling the aid distribution and how the other significant actors are reacting to the situation. Do different political situations create differences in disaster response? Here the facts of the Bhola cyclone of 1970 and the 2007 Sidr cyclone in Bangladesh have been engaged to analyze these questions. These two cyclones occurred during two different political situations in two different times but at the same land area. This research will help to understand natural disaster management relating to political aspects, which will then contribute to better natural disaster management for Bangladesh. The method is qualitative with secondary data and various published scholarly articles reviewed for this research. The findings suggest that politics has a significant role in managing natural disaster. And the natural disaster management pattern leaves an impact on the government and current political context. In the case of the Bhola cyclone, the mismanagement of the government impacted the 1970’s voting outcome. On the other hand, in the case of the Sidr cyclone, the caretaker government impacted natural disaster management in the country in a different way. Through these historical impacts the author identifies from a political perspective the challenges of natural disasters and relief distribution, and then recommends the necessary directions to support the government for better management.