Measuring Household Resilience to Cyclone Disasters in Coastal Bangladesh

Abdullah Al-Maruf,Amelie Bernzen,Boris Braun,J Craig Jenkins

doi:10.3390/cli9060097

Abdullah Al-Maruf, Amelie Bernzen + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9060097

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Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to measure the level of household resilience to cyclone and storm surges in the coastal area of Bangladesh. We draw on four general disaster frameworks in terms of addressing household-level resilience to cyclones and storm surges. We use a composite indicator approach organized around four components: (1) household infrastructure (HI); (2) household economic capacity (HEC); (3) household self-organization and learning (HSoL), and; (4) social safety nets (SSN). Drawing on a household survey (N = 1188) in nine coastal union parishads in coastal Bangladesh purposively selected as among the most vulnerable places in the world, we use principal components analysis applied to a standardized form of the survey data that identifies key household resilience features. These household index scores can be used for the assessment and monitoring of household capacities, training, and other efforts to improve household cyclone resilience. Our innovative methodological approach allows us to (a) identify patterns and reveal the underlying factors that accurately describe the variation in the data; (b) reduce a large number of variables to a much smaller number of core dimensions of household resilience, and (c) to detect spatial variations in resilience among communities. Aggregated to the community level, our new index reveals significant differences in community cyclone resilience in different areas of the coastal region. In this way, we can show that shoreline and island communities, in particular, have significant deficits in terms of household resilience, which seem to be mutually reinforcing one another and making for lower resilience.

Highlights

The Hyogo and Sendai frameworks for disaster risk reduction [1,2] underscore the importance of disaster resilience
principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to the four to six observed variables used to represent each of the four resilience dimensions for household infrastructure, household economic capital, household self-organization and learning, and household social safety nets
We have aimed to show that resilience to disasters caused by cyclones and storm surges is best represented by a multi-dimensional scale that combines measures of household infrastructure, economic capital, self-organization and learning, and social safety nets

Summary

Introduction

The Hyogo and Sendai frameworks for disaster risk reduction [1,2] underscore the importance of disaster resilience. Resilience has been defined as “the ability of a system to absorb change while retaining essential function; to have the ability for self-organization, and; to have the capacity to adapt and learn” [3]. Other researchers have addressed proactive adaptations and transformational change, creating a broader conception of how people respond to, adapt to, and absorb cyclone disasters, climate change, and other physical and environmental hazards [8,9]. In response to cyclone damage, some may cope by borrowing money, selling off property, and reducing food consumption, while others proactively adapt by acting in advance to accumulate savings, create secure storage for seeds and household assets, securing cyclone disaster training, and the like.

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