Case Studies

Country papers

Bangladesh Country Paper

Communities facing multiple hazards

The geographical and hydrological features of Bangladesh make the occurrence of frequent natural disasters inevitable in the country.

As part of the South Asian-wide Livelihood Options for Disaster Risk Reduction (LODRR) Programme, research was conducted in Bangladesh to study and document communities` coping strategies in the face of three hazards- floods, river erosion and arsenic contamination of ground water. The study was conducted in the Greater Faridpur division, which is located along the Padma River, one of Bangladesh`s main rivers.

In Bangladesh, the poorest sections of the populace live in the flood plains or erosion prone areas and are also exposed to arsenic contamination. These people eke out a living through crop production, livestock rearing, small-scale fishing and working as wage laborers.

Flooding mainly affects families engaged in crop production and livestock rearing as their activities have to come to a standstill during times of high water. Among non-agricultural workers, potters are affected most since their ovens (kilns) are totally destroyed by the floods.

But river erosion, on the long term, is a more devastating hazard. It can cause complete loss of farm and homestead land and leave the poor in a totally helpless state without a source of income and livelihood, or a house. Displacement due to river erosion contributes to creating impoverished families. People however have developed coping mechanisms that aid speedy evacuation and resettlement by networking among social groups that live in these marginal lands.

Arsenic poisoning has severe debilitating effects on the human body and the clinical symptoms speak nothing of the social suffering it brings upon the patient and his family. People have very little traditional knowledge to deal with a situation like arsenic contamination and will continue to use tube wells which are marked with red to indicate high poison levels.