Bishawjit Mallick

Population displacement after cyclone and its consequences: empirical evidence from coastal Bangladesh

This study investigates the disaster-induced population displacement scenario at individual household level in Bangladesh. ‘Population displacement’ is seen here as an alternative adaptation option to natural hazard for the survivors after cyclone Aila. The changes both in origin and destination community due to population displacement are described here on the basis of social ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ concept. The field survey was conducted during March–July 2010, and a sample of 280 respondents from 12 villages in southwest coastal Bangladesh was interviewed. Findings show that at the end of emergency aid, male members of the family started moving towards nearer cities to find an income. Based on the income and asset distribution at the community level, this study developed a societal cluster of displacement and demonstrates the societal changes because of cyclone-induced population displacement.

Social vulnerability analysis for sustainable disaster mitigation planning in coastal Bangladesh

Purpose – The opportunities and potentials of the coastal zone all over the world have not received much attention, and also the disaster mitigation approaches are seen as a curative measure rather than protective, both of which raise questions about sustainable coastal belt planning and development. What is needed is a multidisciplinary approach to tackle the complexity of social systems, and patterns of vulnerability in those systems. The aim of this paper is to attempt to understand those challenges in context of cyclone SIDR 2007 in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approach – The combination of spatial and socio‐economic data in this study is based on an empirical analysis. After clustering the geographical boundary, a systematic random sampling technique was applied to identify the respondents for a household survey. A total of 47 percent of the respondents were illiterate and thus required the help of data collectors. In‐depth interviews were conducted with the victims of cyclone Sidr to ascertain thei...

Social Supremacy and its Role in Local Level Disaster Mitigation Planning in Bangladesh

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss issues related to disaster mitigation planning provisions in Bangladesh, one of the most disaster‐prone countries in Asia. It seeks to concentrate on the issues related to the role of local groups in establishing cyclone shelters.Design/methodology/approach – In February 2008, a field study was conducted in the Southwest coastal region of Bangladesh. Combining the most recent empirical data, the location of cyclone shelters and the social supremacy structure are explored in this paper. Vulnerability due to infrastructure is defined here on the basis of available infrastructural facilities i.e. cyclone shelters, by using catchment area analysis in the geographical information system (GIS) software ArcGIS. The paper bases its argument on the assumption that the location of an infrastructure item like a cyclone shelter is dependent on the influential and motivational power of local elites and not on the necessity of the deprived people. Vulnerability, from this perspectiv...

Cyclone shelters and their locational suitability: an empirical analysis from coastal Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the poorest and the most disaster-prone countries in Asia; it is important, therefore, to know how its disaster reduction strategies are organised and planned. Cyclone shelters comprise a widely acceptable form of infrastructural support for disaster management in Bangladesh. This paper attempts to analyse empirically their use during cyclones in a sample study area along the southwest coastal belt of the country. It shows how the location of a cyclone shelter can determine the social power structure in coastal Bangladesh. The results reveal that the establishment of cyclone shelters in the studied communities is determined by neither a right-based nor a demand-based planning approach; rather, their creation is dependent on the socio-political affluence of local-level decision-makers. The paper goes on to demonstrate that socially vulnerable households (defined, for example, by income or housing conditions) are afforded disproportionately less access to cyclone shelters as compared to less socially vulnerable households.

Societal Dealings with Cyclone in Bangladesh-A Proposal of Vulnerability Atlas for Sustainable Disaster Risk Reduction

The factors of climate change, demographic patterns and the effects of economic globalization are increasing the risk exposure of almost all regions of the world. Coastal area of Bangladesh is a hotspot of cyclone hazards in the world. However, the perception and management practices of the cyclone events are spatially heterogeneous, so that comprehensive measures are in many cases neither socially acceptable nor economically sensible. It is therefore necessary to consider the actual heterogeneity of the factors of social vulnerability, in that they are collected and aggregated algorithms supported. It is essential that existing interactions between the factors that lead in most cases to an exponential amplification of social vulnerability and thus generate the socially devastating effects of natural disasters, be covered. The aim of this research was to develop methods of customized data collection and analysis and to determine the algorithms of the interactions between the factors of a cyclone induced vulnerable livelihood management. This is the basis of building plans and measures for the sustainable way of disaster risk reduction. The social acceptance of all consequent actions, including restrictions on use at the local level, can only be increased by the fact that the derivation of these limitations is transparent. All these are presented in this paper based on an empirical investigation with 1555 respondents those were victims of cyclone Sidr (2007) and cyclone Aila (2009) in southwest coastal villages in Bangladesh.

Moving Beyond the Focus on Environmental Migration Towards Recognizing the Normality of Translocal Lives: Insights from Bangladesh

In the popular debate about climate change and adaptation in Bangladesh, migration is most often framed in a negative light: People are fleeing due to environmental changes and are displaced in the wake of disasters. Mobility is largely seen as a reaction and migrants as more or less passive victims of climate change. While numerous studies seem to prove this observation, others highlight migrants’ agency and see them as drivers of social transformations. Mobility opens up livelihood opportunities in multiple places. By living translocal lives, households with migrants might be more resilient to natural hazards, subtle environmental changes and economic turbulences. Seen in this light, migration is more than a risk management strategy. It is a question of livelihood choices, human rights and freedoms.