Flood proneness and coping strategies: the experiences of two villages in Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper explores peoples' indigenous survival strategies and assesses variations in people's ability to cope with floods in two flood-prone villages in Bangladesh. It reveals that people continuously battle against flood vulnerability in accordance with their level of exposure and abilities, with varied strategies employed at different geophysical locations. The paper reports that people in an area with low flooding and with better socioeconomic circumstances are more likely to cope with impacts compared to people in areas with high and sudden flooding. Similarly, households' ability to cope varies depending on people's socioeconomic conditions, such as education, income and occupation. Although floods in Bangladesh generate socioeconomic misery and cause damage to the environment, health and infrastructure, people's indigenous coping strategies have helped them to reduce significantly their vulnerability. Such flood-mitigating strategies should be well recognised and emphasised further via proper dissemination of information through an early-warning system and subsequently external assistance.

The role of environmental perceptions in migration decision-making: evidence from both migrants and non-migrants in five developing countries

“…This supports our theoretical argument that individuals prefer to stay and try to adapt to an environmental problem -instead of opting for the more uncertain and costly option of migration when facing long-term environmental shocks. Our study compliments the findings of previous studies, which report that short-term environmental events can lead to migration (e.g., Gray and Mueller 2012a;Paul and Routray 2010), while we additionally provide new evidence on the nexus between long-term environmental events and migration in the context of micro-level studies.…”

Disaster risk reduction infrastructure requirements for South-Western Bangladesh

“…For example, a study by Concern Universal Bangladesh (2010) found that although the most vulnerable households were aware of the measures that should be taken to reduce the risks to their households, they were unable to implement those measures due to lack of resources. Further, Paul and Routray (2010) emphasised the ineffectiveness of individual, often indigenous, coping strategies beyond a critical threshold, requiring people to seek the safety of places like cyclone shelters when the flood level increases.…”

‘Monga’ in northern region of Bangladesh: a study on people’s survival strategies and coping capacities

“…The monga stricken people, in the northern region, represents 10 percent of the country's total population and occupies 11 percent land of Bangladesh (Rob, 2005). This periodic catastrophe has long been linked with the country's traditional subsistence agriculture system, feudal and tenure arrangement and exploitative dadan 2 system in rural credit market (Elahi & Ara, 2008;Paul & Routray, 2010a). Similarly, transport crisis, inadequate marketing, limited irrigation facilities and employment crisis in the monga prone region increase people's vulnerability to a great extent (Zug, 2006).…”

“…Floodplain topography and tropical monsoon climate make northern region of Bangladesh vulnerable to various natural calamities such as flood, riverbank erosion, drought and cold waves, all of which occurs more frequently and intensely than other regions of the country (Paul & Routray, 2010a;Paul et al, 2012;Paul, 2014). Amidst these compelling conditions, the local economy shows little diversification and is heavily dependent on agriculture, which yields only one or sometimes two annual harvest, in contrast with three crops per year in more fertile and benign parts of the country (Ara, 2007;Paul & Routray, 2010b).…”