Flood proneness and human response in Bangladesh : a case study | |
| Author | Paul, Shitangsu Kumar |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-05-03 |
| Subject(s) | Floods--Bangladesh Flood damage prevention--Bangladesh |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Bangladesh is a typical hazard prone country in the world and flood is considered to be the number one natural hazard. This study is undertaken to explore the socio-economic and environmental impacts of floods, peoples own survival strategies and assessing their coping capacities against floods in rural areas of Bangladesh. The field survey was conducted in January 2005 in two villages in Bannabari in Tungipara Upazila and Suvagacha in Kajipur Upazila. Primary data was also collected through key informant interviews and household survey. By assuming 90% confidence interval, the estimated sample size is 94 out of 500 households in both the study villages. Statistical techniques such as frequency, percentage, chi-square test, t-test and weighted average index are used to evaluate flood impact, coping strategies, coping capacity, degree of satisfaction and degree of priority of various aspects. Flood has disastrous impact on people's socio-economic conditions such as loss of earnings, assets, crops and livestock, food, drinking water, sanitation, people's health and infrastructure as well. These impacts depend on not only flood height and duration but also the frequency of flood together with poor socio-economic condition and lack of preparedness creates greater impact. It is also evident that flood has impact on environment and this impact depends upon physical location of the area and magnitude of the flood. It is not true that flood always increases soil fertility; it can decrease fertility too due to the sand deposition on agricultural land and soil erosion that creates great environmental affects. Flood pollutes both domestic and drinking water, which are the major causes of spreading communicable diseases during and after flood. Coping strategies in response to flood impacts are motivated by magnitude of flood together with social structure, cultural setup and geophysical location of the area; hence people develop their survival strategies to live with flood having traditional strategies and indigenous coping methods in location specific situation. People in low flooded area with good socio-economic condition are significantly able to cope up with the general affects of flood than that of people in high and sudden flooded area. Thus it is evident that indigenous coping strategy is highly effective when flood is in tolerable limit and when it reaches the critical limit people have no alternatives except migration. This is one of the major cause of increase slum population in urban centers of the country during and after floods. Similarly, coping capacity of household can be varied not only with the variation in flood height and duration but some socio-economic aspects such as income; education and occupation have significant influence. Similarly flood height, duration and riverbank erosion has a significant influence to reduce the coping capacity of households. People's priorities and needs might have similarities during flood because of some emergency needs but these significantly varied after flood because of individuals coping capacity. However it is evident that proper dissemination of information regarding early warning and assistances from governmental and nongovernmental organizations can significantly improve the coping capacity of people. Thus it argues that flood in Bangladesh always brings socio-economic, health environmental and infrastructural damage. However, peoples' indigenous coping strategies against flood can significantly minimize the impacts of floods if it is in tolerable limit, though their coping capacity depends on their socio-economic status where higher income and educated people are in better situation as they have much capability to face and reduce vulnerability to any disaster. |
| Year | 2005 |
| Type | Thesis |
| 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) | Schmidt-Vogt , Dietrich ;Chandhana lndhapanya |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |