Vulnerability to Flood Induced Disaster in Bangladesh: People’s Perspective for Risk Assessment and Mitigation

Abstract

Every year Bangladesh faces the certainty that it will be hit by a wide range of natural hazards such as, floods, tornadoes, droughts and tropical cyclones with associated storm-surges. These present a huge challenge. This research focuses on the impact of floods on the flood prone rural people of Bangladesh, how they behave in response, what lessons can be learned from this, and what it may mean for better management of disasters occurred from these events. The inquiry engaged the author in a study at the grassroots level in the flood prone area of Bangladesh to explore two schools of thought. The dominant Behavioural approach that looks at the outward pattern of hazards and considers that disasters are characteristic of hazards. To avert disaster the modern behavioural approach emphasises people's perception to the imminence of hazard and engineering oriented measures to control floods by large-scale levees and by physical and behavioural response and recovery actions. But such actions have already threatened the ecology of the delta and its viability as the rice bowl of Bangladesh. The alternative Structural Political Economy approach focuses on the structure of the society that causes people to be vulnerable to a natural hazard. It contradicts the dominant approach in a way that disasters are characteristic not of hazards but of socio-economic and political vulnerability of the people living in that society. It focuses on local people's vulnerability to disaster, which has evolved over centuries, and suggests the solution lies in reducing such vulnerabilities by increasing socio-economic capability. The rural poor who are hit hardest are remarkably resilient. The study documents how the flood hazard threatens life and causes so much damage to private property, public infrastructure and places extraordinary financial and social stress on ordinary people and contributes so much to on-going pauperisation. It also looks at the choices farmers must make if they are to survive and what lessons they have to teach those in an administrative capacity whose job it is to provide emergency relief and make strategic changes to peoples livelihoods which in the long term could ameliorate the impact of flooding. From the findings of the empirical research in the field, it is argued that the effective response to hazard is in large part a function of the distribution of resources available within the stricken area. Landlessness, overpopulation, severe poverty and wide spread illiteracy have compelled the less well off people to live in fragile hazardous areas of the country where they suffer frequent flood hazard. Especially women, children, elderly and disabled people particularly become victims of disaster because of their dependence and shortcomings or inability to cope with hazardous events, which are part of the endemic characteristics of the society in Bangladesh flood prone areas. Developing socio-economic capacity, strengthening local initiatives for coping and formal flood warning systems have positive bearings on increasing resilience. The major achievement of this research is the finding that rural people's view of flood mitigation is informed and offers a way through which needs to be thoroughly researched and documented if the challenge be better understood. Better governance pattern, better informed policies and strategies could make a contribution to social equity and sustainable development in the present socio-economic and political context of Bangladesh.