Community Resilience to Cyclone Disasters in Coastal Bangladesh

Bayes Ahmed, Ilan Kelman, Heather K. Fehr and Manik Saha
Additional contact information
Bayes Ahmed: Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, Department of Earth Sciences, University College London (UCL), Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Ilan Kelman: UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction (IRDR) and UCL Institute for Global Health (IGH), University College London (UCL), London WC1E 6BT, UK
Heather K. Fehr: International Division, British Red Cross, UK Office, 44 Moorfields, London EC2Y 9AL, UK
Manik Saha: British Red Cross, Bangladesh Office, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Bangladesh Delegation, 684-686, Bara Maghbazar, Dhaka 1217, Bangladesh

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 8, 1-29

Abstract: Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most disaster-prone countries in the world. To address both problems simultaneously, sustainable livelihoods (SL) could be better connected with disaster risk reduction (DRR). For this purpose, one initiative implemented in Bangladesh is called the Vulnerability to Resilience (V2R) programme which ran from 2013 to 2016. This programme was primarily initiated and funded by the British Red Cross in a consortium with the Swedish Red Cross and the German Red Cross. This article presents the first evaluation of the V2R programme with three objectives. The first objective was to measure whether the selected communities have achieved community resilience characteristics as defined by the programme. The second objective was to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for the intervention. The third objective was to analyse V2R’s impact on the communities in terms of DRR and SL. Community-based focus group discussions and household-based surveys were conducted before and after the intervention (2013–2016) in two coastal communities in Patuakhali district, Nowapara and Pashurbunia. The analysis found that community members are now engaged with many hazard-resilient and vulnerability-reducing livelihood activities, using SL to implement DRR, yet these approaches were almost absent prior to V2R. Consequently, the communities have achieved resilience characteristics, being more well-organized and better connected; having better access to infrastructure, services, and economic opportunities; are more knowledgeable and healthier; and are better managing their available resources. Critiques of the concepts are discussed, although in this case, DRR based on SL has shown positive results, exactly as development theory suggests.

Keywords: cyclone; coastal community; resilience; vulnerability; sustainable livelihoods; disaster risk reduction; Bangladesh (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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