Hazards in a Fickle Environment: Bangladesh

This book evolved from a collaborative research project between the University of Manitoba, Canada and Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, which commenced in 1984 to study the problems of river channel migration, rural population displacement and land relocation in Bangladesh. The study was sponsored by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), based in Ottawa, Canada. It was through this project that I started my journey into disaster research more than thirteen years ago with basically an applied problem of massive magnitude in Bangladesh. I spent two- and-a half-years, in two stages, in Bangladesh's riparian villages to collect the empirical data for this study. Then the growing disaster discourse throughout the 1980s, especially its conceptual and theoretical areas, drew me in further, gluing my interest to these issues. In the 1990s, during my research and teaching at Brandon University, Canada, I realized that, despite the large body of literature on natural disasters, there was no work that synthesized the approaches to nature-triggered disasters in a comprehensive form, with sufficient empirical substantiation. In addition, despite the great deal of attention given to disasters in Bangladesh, I found no detailed reference book on the topic. Natural hazards and disasters, in my view, should be studied under a holistic framework encompassing the natural environment, society and individuals. Overreaction to the limitations of technocratic-scientific approaches-the control and prevention of physical events through specialized knowledge and skills-has resulted in a call for "taking the naturalness out of natural disasters.

Auteur
Dr. Emdad Haque is the Director and Professor at the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitobe, Canada. Prior to joining the University of Manitoba in 2001, Dr. Haque was a Professor of Geography at Brandon University where he had served as Chair of the Department of Geography during 1997-2000. Dr. Haque's primary academic interest is to explore into the various facets of, and processes in the nature and society interface. His background is in the area of resource and environmental management, with concentrations in environmental risk assessment, hazard and disaster management, and water resource management.Dr. Haque's current research interest centers around human involvement in addressing problems concerning the environment and our natural and other resources. At the present time, his research involvement encompasses the following multidisciplinary areas: formulation of a participatory decision-making framework for sustainable floodplain management; the nature and role of risk perception and communication in disaster management; an assessment of knowledge of, and research on environmental hazards and risks as well as social and environmental impact assessment of water resource development projects. Dr. Haque serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Natural Hazards.

Texte du rabat

This interdisciplinary volume presents first-hand longitudinal research on the riverine hazards in Bangladesh. The book addresses the profound significance of the societal aspects and human geographical dimensions of natural disasters. The characteristics and nature of responses to floods and riverbank erosion hazards are examined, as well as the assessment of the impact of the hazards. The book states that disaster impacts are caused as much by social, economic, political and cultural factors as they are by the fickle physical environment of the Quaternary alluvial floodplains. Massive physical-structural intervention in event controlling could become ineffective. A new approach is offered which considers the ecological sensitivity and dynamics of the Ganges-Brahmaputra deltaic system, and the related socio-cultural adaptations of people to these riverine events. Audience: This is a key book for research scientists and students of geography, anthropology, ecology and environmental, population and development studies as well as for professionals specializing in natural and anthropogenic disasters.

Contenu
One Natural Hazards and Human Perspectives.- 1 Hazardous Environment and Disastrous Impact: The Challenge of Understanding and Responding.- 2 Natural Disasters-Induced Displacement: An Overview of An Emergent Crisis.- 3 Human Coping Responses to Natural Hazards: A Survey and Critique of Approaches.- Two Riverine Hazards and Human Ecology: Bangladesh.- 4 Physical Dimensions of Riverine Hazards in the Bengal Basin: The Case of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna Floodplain.- 5 Social Class Formation and Vulnerability of the Population: A Historical Account of Human Occupance and Land Resource Management.- Three Riverbank Erosion Hazard in Serajganj District: Impacts and Responses.- 6 The Rural Study Design: The Characteristics of the Samples.- 7 Impacts of Riverbank Erosion Disaster: Understanding Differentials in Rural Socio-economic Characteristics.- 8 Coping Responses of Floodplain Users in Rural Kazipur.- 9 The Displaced Poor in Urban Environments: The Case of Squatters in Serajganj.- Four Emerging Policy Issues: Towards Sustainable Reduction of Disasters and Floodplain Development.- 10 Public Policy Issues: Water Management, Hazard Mitigation and Resettlement.- 11 Toward a Sustainable Floodplain Development Strategy.- Notes.- References.