Abstract
Over the last thirty years, Bangladesh has been experiencing hill cutting problems and subsequent landslide occurrence in its southeastern hilly region. Since 2000, landslides have caused over 500 deaths, mostly in informal settlements in southeast Bangladesh. The most significant single event was the 2007 landslide causing 127 deaths in Chittagong’s informal settlements. The landslide events took over 110 people in Rangamati on 12 June 2017. In the scenario of rising deaths by landslides in the southeastern region, this research aimed to understand communities’ landslide hazard knowledge, reasons for living in at-risk areas, risk perception and preparedness. This research applied both quantitative (i.e., structural questionnaire) and qualitative (i.e., semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire and informal interviews) data collection techniques to assess hill-top and hill-side dwellers knowledge, risk perception and preparedness to landslides in southeast Bangladesh. The investigation conducted face-to-face interviews with 208 community members, 15 key informant interviews, three Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and field observations and visits in southeast Bangladesh. The findings suggest that unplanned development activities, overpopulation, settlement along hill slopes and ineffective disaster risk reduction efforts are the anthropogenic contributories accompanying climate-change induced increased torrential rainfall are the main reasons for the increase of landslide occurrence. The results suggest that community members perceive a low-risk for landslides, despite the community’s location in high-risk areas. The community’s perception of low risk results in a lack of preparedness and an unwillingness to relocate a comparatively safer place. It was noted that landslide disaster preparation depends on the communities’ development maturity, house ownership, ethnicity, gender and economic status of the residents. It is suggested that the place of relocation for residents living in the high-risk areas should be selected with full consideration of psychosocial aspects of the community, particularly providing acceptable livelihood options.
Highlights
Bangladesh is susceptible to a variety of natural and human-induced hazards including tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts and landslides due to its geographical location and fragile landscape
208 residents selected by purposive sampling technique from southeast Bangladesh were interviewed on hazard knowledge, risk perception, disaster preparedness, emergency responses and evacuation
Key findings are provided that should be of interest to organisations responsible for developing landslide risk mitigation strategies and for assisting the GOB in determining the appropriateness of the government’s preparedness strategy
Summary
Bangladesh is susceptible to a variety of natural and human-induced hazards including tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts and landslides due to its geographical location and fragile landscape. The eastern part of Bengal Basin is bordered by the Tripura Hills to the north and the Chittagong Hills to the south. These hills are composed of folded sediments during the Pleistocene through the Pliocene with a height up to 609.6 m above mean sea level (MSL) [1]. In recent years, landslides have been a major risk in the southeast region of Bangladesh. Landslides caused over 500 deaths in southeast Bangladesh with the majority in informal settlements in Chittagong City since 2000. Both natural and anthropogenic causes are responsible for landslides in the country. Hill-cutting areas have been used for formal and informal settlement development, and the increase of these settlements (Figure 1) along the foothills has been contributing to landslide events
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