Flood Proneness in Bangladesh: Coping and Indigenous Knowledge

The book documents the historical perspective of floods in Bangladesh with environmental, socio- economic and infrastructural impacts. The study intensively focuses on two villages of different geophysical conditions and addresses the indigenous practices and coping ability of local people. The book reports that people in an area with low flooding and with better socioeconomic circumstances are more likely to cope with impacts compared to people in areas with high and sudden flooding. Similarly, households’ ability to cope varies depending on people’s socioeconomic conditions, such as education, income and occupation. Although floods in Bangladesh generate socioeconomic misery and cause damage to the environment, health and infrastructure, people’s indigenous coping strategies have helped them to reduce significantly their vulnerability. Such flood-mitigating strategies should be well recognized and emphasized further via proper dissemination of information through an early-warning system and subsequently external assistance.