Livelihood security of cyclone-prone coastal communities in Bangladesh: a comparative study | |
| Author | Paul, Shitangsu Kumar |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.RD-10-05 |
| Subject(s) | Coastal zone management--Bangladesh Cyclones---Bangladesh |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Regional and Rural Development Planning |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This research aims to explore people’s response and coping strategies to cyclones and storm surges along with their regular livelihood strategies. It compares how community livelihood practices, coping behaviours vary in response to cyclone exposure and intensity across locations, and demographic, socio-economic and external factors. It also examines the role of different institutions for disaster risk reduction, coping and livelihood rebuilding, and assesses post disaster livelihood security outcomes of vulnerable coastal communities considering the impacts of cyclone and storm surges. The study is conducted in three villages, selected purposively in the central coast of Bangladesh, which are severely vulnerable to cyclones and storm surges. The assumption of a 95 per cent confidence interval resulted in an estimated sample size of 331 out of 788 households, chosen through a simple random sampling procedure. Key informants interview, focus group discussions and household surveys are applied for primary data gathering while secondary data are collected from relevant published and unpublished sources. Relevant statistical techniques have been used for both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. This study has identified that major livelihood groups are fisher, farmer and wage laborer in all three villages. Fisher is the dominant livelihood group in Island and Shoreline villages, farmers are the majority in Inland village, while the fish fry collector is the most destitute and disadvantageous sub-group of fisher mostly found in Island and Shoreline villages. Wage laborers are relatively less in Island and Shoreline villages than Inland. In response to cyclone and storm surge, commonly people have various indigenous coping strategies following the sequences of before the occurrence of cyclone, during cyclone, and post cyclone, which is consistent with several earlier studies. Adoption of such strategies varies over time and space due to the frequency and intensity of the cyclone in line with various demographic, socio-economic and cultural factors. Besides, locational exposure, people’s perception of forecasting, informal risk-sharing within the community and social protection measures are also act as additional supportive measures for adoption of coping strategies. Indigenous coping strategies are effective as long as the cyclone and induced surge do not exceed the tolerable (critical) limit, hence it urge special attention for up-gradation of coping strategies while disaster suppress people’s ability to cope. Bangladesh has a well established disaster management institutional setup and huge success in disaster management in recent years, but still few identified limitations are ambiguities in cyclone warning signals, and proper and timely dissemination of warning messages. The present study findings unveil that Island inhabitants had received relatively lesser and delayed cyclone early warning, assistance for evacuation, first aid, relief and post cyclone livelihood rebuilding. Similarly, in line with several earlier studies this study finds that GO and NGOs activities are concentrated on the areas located close to the Thana headquarters or having good communication networks. This study finds that a large number of population are food insecure (in terms of kcal/day/person), and Island village reveals relatively more food insecurity. Regression result reveals that major factors of food insecurity are age and education of mother, household income and expenditure, gender of household head, family size and number of dependent family members, livelihood capitals, post cyclone income diversification, asset disposal and damages of cyclone. Similarly, housing and sanitation in Island village reveals dilapidated condition due to the poor economic conditions, while drinking water facility reveals significant improvement in all three locations. Child immunization and deaths of children are great concerns in Island village, while incidences of diseases are mostly similar across the villages, though healthcare facility and affordability to pay for health care varies significantly across the villages. Likewise, education, income and savings level of Island villagers are significantly lower than Shoreline and Inland villages. Therefore, such differential pictures of various livelihood security indicators reveal relatively higher post cyclone livelihood insecurity of Islanders, while Shoreline village reveals relatively better position followed by Inland village. The policy implication of the present study unveils that it is important to identify vulnerable locations and groups through scientific analysis of livelihood security indicators and indices. Improving the socio-economic status of targeted groups in vulnerable locations is prerequisite to reduce post cyclone livelihood insecurity. Intervention is needed for household asset building as all types of livelihood assets are significant predictors of livelihood security. Asset selling might increase household food availability for a shorter period but in the long run such coping strategies should be discouraged. Consumption smoothing negatively influence post cyclone food security; thus priority for relief and rehabilitation should be given to those groups who are at the bottom of such coping behavior. Safety net programs need to be expanded and continued with specifically targeting the absolute poor and hardcore poor and made more effective through proper monitoring, as post cyclone income diversification is a significant predictor of food security. Emphasis should be given on re-building livelihood such as post cyclone assistance for producing food rather than providing food. Post cyclone income generating activities could reduce the prevalence of livelihood insecurity of coastal poor communities for a longer period of time. |
| Year | 2010 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Routray, Jayant K.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Thapa, Gopal B.;Shrestha, Rajendra P.;Schmidt-Vogt, Dietrich; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2010 |