Food security and household coping strategies during disasters in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is currently ranked as one of the world's most disaster-prone countries. Approximately 97% of the total land area and all inhabitants are at risk of multiple hazards including tropical cyclones, earthquakes, floods, droughts, riverbank, and coastal erosion. Food security is a challenge when a disaster heavily affects an area. The main aim of this research is to analyze how households themselves attempted to cope with food during major disaster events in Bangladesh. To achieve the objectives of this research, data on disasters and coping strategies for food were collected from the Government of Bangladesh and nongovernmental organizations' publications, local histories, journal articles in the peer-reviewed literature, books, newspapers, magazines, annual reports, and online hazard databases. The findings suggest that affected household undertook several food coping strategies through their available resources and traditional social networks following disaster events. It was noted that coping strategies depend on types, severity and time of disaster and sociodemographic characteristics of the affected households. In general, the poor, agricultural, and fishing communities whose livelihood means located in hazardous locations are found to adopt least preferable coping strategies for food during and following disaster occurrence. Household resilient for food security could be improved through providing access to food for all class of people and undertaking preparedness and increasing household level capacity building program.