Women; Their needs and Adaptation Strategies after disaster

1 Women: Their Needs and Adaptation Strategies after Disaster

Women: Their Needs and Adaptation Strategies after Disaster

Abstract

This study mainly focused on flood affected people and theirlivelihoods during and after disaster in Bangladesh.Specially, impact of flood on women and the way they areaffecting and adapting with the situation. The study was takenplace in ‘Chauhali Upazila’ of Sirajgong district forcollecting primary data and found some very interestinginformation that may contribute in academic area.

Bangladesh faces so many natural disasters like flood,cyclone, tornado, draught and so on in every year. All thepeople of Bangladesh face vulnerability of disaster but womenare more vulnerable to different disasters than men because oftheir socially constructed roles and responsibilities, andtheir relatively poorer and more economically vulnerableposition.

Generally, women are responsible for household tasks such asfood collection, water collection for the household as well asmany care-giving tasks, such as caring for the children, sick,elderly, home and assets. Waterborne diseases, snake bites,drowning and collapse of physical structure are the causes ofdeaths, disease and injuries for women. Besides, lack ofmedical facilities, malnutrition, disrupted supply of puredrinking water and lack of proper sanitation facilities makewomen's life increasingly vulnerable. During cyclones andfloods, women and adolescent girls suffer as sanitationsystems are destroyed. Pregnant women, lactating mothers anddifferently-abled (disabled) women suffer the most -- as theyfind it difficult to quickly move to safer place before andafter any natural calamity. Whoever and whenever any accidentoccur women are particularly susceptible. Therefore adaptationstrategies of women are different. There adaptation strategies


vary because of geographical location, economic status andsocial status. Sometimes good relation with dominating peopleforces them to adapt differently. Moreover, an increase inthe number of female-headed households (because of malemigration to cities or overseas destinations) also amplifieswomen's responsibilities and vulnerabilities during naturaldisasters. Therefore, in case of disasters, often women arealso seen to struggle to cope with their household tasks or tofind a safe shelter. This paper mainly studied onvulnerabilities and adaptation strategies of women afterdisaster. Mainly some in-depth interviews were taken on womenin some villages of Kazipur and Chauhali upazila in Sirajgong.


Chapter One

Introduction and Background

1.1.1 Preludes: The General Context

Due to geographical position, every year Bangladesh is facingdifferent types of natural disaster which cost many lives andresources.1 According to United Nations Environmental program(UNEP) Bangladesh ranked first as disaster prone area in Asiaand the Pacific region. In 30 years (from 1971 to 2000), atotal of 2, 16,150 people died in 181 disasters occurred inBangladesh2. This number is much higher compared to India (1,24069 in 345 disasters) over the same period. According to aworld Disaster report 2001 in Miah’s work published by theFRCS some 100000 people suffer and 9000 hectares of preciouscultivable land are eroded. Bangladesh experiences naturaldisasters such as, floods, riverbank erosion, earthquake,tornado, cyclones, tidal bores, and droughts almost everyyear3. Floods are the most frequent natural disaster affectingover 2.5 billion people during the last 30 years (Centre forResearch on the Epidemiology of Disasters 2007). Major floodshave occurred in Bangladesh in 1987, 1988, 1998, 2004, and2007.4 During each flood, hundreds of people were killed anddamages to crops, small enterprises and infrastructure can beas high as several billion dollars, severely disrupting theeconomy and reducing potential GDP by a few percentage points.Recently floods have tended to intensify, and this trend could

1 Resource means agricultural production, furniture, and other materialswhich posses some value to the everyday life of people.2 Akter, Nasima, BRAC’s Experience on Flood Management,2004.3 Ibid.4 Xian Zhu, Floods in Bangladesh: The way forward, 2007-11-06, The DailyStar.


increase with climate change. Inter Governmental Panel forClimate Change (IPCC) warned that climate is changing rapidlyand it will be the cause of submerging many countries partlyeven whole country (Maldives). Due to increasing intensityand severity of different disaster in Bangladesh it isincreasing vulnerability of people far greater than that ofprevious time.

Women, children and old peoples are mostly affected duringdisaster. Furthermore, lack of medical facilities,malnutrition, disrupted supply of pure drinking water and lackof proper sanitation facilities make women's life increasinglyvulnerable. It is observed that during and immediately afterdisaster; deaths, diseases and injuries occur from suchincidences as waterborne diseases, snake bites, drowning, fallof large trees and collapse of physical structures. In allcases women are particularly vulnerable. During cyclones andfloods, women and adolescent girls suffer from different typesof problems. Pregnant women, lactating mothers anddifferently-abled (disabled) women suffer the most -- as theyfind it difficult to quickly move to safety before and afterany natural calamity. Moreover, an increase in the number offemale-headed households (because of male migration to citiesor overseas destinations) also increases women'sresponsibilities and vulnerabilities during natural disasters.

When disaster occurs women have to struggle to survive.Besides in developing countries like Bangladesh socialconstruction of gender, religious dogmas and customs playstrong role. So, that most often disaster relief efforts paylittle or no attention to women's reproductive and sexualhealth guided by superstitions and as a result, women’s’health suffers excessively. There are incidents often reportedin the media where women have been abused sexually inconnection with the distribution of relief goods and services.During natural disasters, more women die (compared to men)because they are not adequately warned, cannot swim well or


cannot leave the house alone. Moreover, lower levels ofeducation reduce the ability of women and girls to accessinformation including early warning, and resources, or to maketheir voices heard.

A report of The Daily Star (Popular English News Paper ofBangladesh) that 71 percent of women faced more torture duringthe flood.5 As a result women in poor and marginal householdsbecome more vulnerable and distressed. Both women and men areunable to utilize their times and labor in productiveactivities due to absence of employment opportunities.Longitudinal studies argue that disasters affect both womenand men but the burden of coping with disasters falls heavilyon women6. For example, during and aftermath a disaster men inrural areas lose their places of work while women shoulder theresponsibilities to maintain households' sustenance. However,although poor rural women have very few options open to themto overcome their problems, their roles in disasters areobviously not simple: they relate to a complete range ofsocio-economic activities. During floods women continue to bebearers and socialize of children, collectors and providers offood, fuel, water, fodder, building materials and keepers ofhousehold belongings: they also represent a productivepotential which is not discussed earlier. It is women'sstrategies, developed over the years, those are vital inenabling the rural people to cope with disaster.

This study may investigate the role of women and their badsuffering; and coping and adaptation strategies that women hadexperienced. The studies provided a lot of insight into theflood issues and made several recommendations that may help tothink women differently and may help to rethink about thepolicy to incorporate women. Though this paper has somelimitations, after all this paper may contribute in the

5 Women more vulnerable to violence during floods, The Daily Star,Published On: 2008-04-09,6 Nasreen, Mahbuba, Gender dimension to policy on disaster management, TheDaily Star, Published on: 24-02-2010.


development thinking about disaster affected women. Besides,government and non-government organizations and local peopleto take any action to reduce the impact women must have toaccount in decision.


1.1.2 Why This Study

There are so many researches on disaster in Bangladesh. Mostof these researches were not so much concerned about gendersensitivity of disaster and gender based adaptation strategiesof disaster. There is very few numbers of researches inBangladesh focused on gender issue. Most of the researchfocused on women and their vulnerability. More specificallyresearch on disaster in Bangladesh does not focused on womenissue as a prime focus of the study. But women situation isdifferent from other segment of the people of our society. Dueto social construction of gender women face different types ofproblem during disaster and after disaster and theiradaptation strategies are also very different from the others.But this is more or less missing in the academic discussionand practice related to disaster rehabilitation andadaptation.

This study will seek to understand the different types ofproblems women have to face as a woman during and after flood;more focus mainly on women’s needs and adaptation strategiesafter disaster. How social and cultural construction of genderimpose huge responsibility on women and how they can adaptwith these situation.

1.1.5 Literature Review

There are many literatures about disaster, gender andvulnerability as well as women and their emergency needsduring disaster and how they cope with the situation. So far,a large number of studies took place to examinevulnerabilities and coping strategies of women in Bangladesh.There are lots of studies on natural disaster of Bangladesh.These studies were conducted from divergent disciplinaryperspective using methodologies and indicators. After


surveying the general literature on disaster, Alexander (1993)7

identified six schools of thoughts on natural hazards anddisaster studies.

The geographical approach (pioneered by Barrows, 1923 andWhite, 1945) deals with hazard impacts, vulnerability andpeople's choice and adjustment to natural hazards.

The anthropological approach (Oliver-Smith, 1979, 1986;Hansen and Oliver-Smith, 1982) emphasizes the role ofdisasters in guiding the socio-economic evolution ofpopulations.

The development studies approach (Davis, 1978; Knott,1987) discusses the problems of distributing aid andrelief to 'Third World' countries and focuses on refugeemanagement, health care and the avoidance of starvation.

The disaster medicine and epidemiology approach (Beinin,1985) focuses on the management of mass casualties. Italso includes the treatment of severe physical trauma andother diseases, which may occur after a disaster.

The technical approach (Bolt et al. 1977; El-Sabh andMurty, 1988) focuses on geophysical approaches todisaster such as studied in seismology, geomorphology andvolcanology and seeks engineering solutions.

The sociological approach (Dynes, 1970; Qurantelli, 1978;Mileti, Drabek and Haas, 1975; Drabek and Boggs, 1968;Drabek, 1986) discusses vulnerability and the impact ofdisaster upon patterns of human behavior and the effectsof disaster upon community functions and organization.

From these six approaches geographical approach deals withhazard impacts, vulnerability and people's choice andadjustment to natural hazards and the sociological approachdiscussed about the vulnerability and the impact of disasterupon patterns of human behavior. Both approaches were gettingthe popularity in disaster research in Bangladesh. This study

7 Nasreen, Mahbuba (2004), Disaster Research: Exploring SociologicalApproach to Disaster in Bangladesh, Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology. Vol.1. No. 2. July, 2004.


followed the geographical and the sociological approach tofind out the adaptation strategies of women during and afterdisaster. How women suffer and what kind of behavior they haveto change to cope and adapt with the situation. Drabek's(1986) findings on existing sociological literature are thesignificant contributions to the conceptual typology ofsociological disaster research. He identified different areasof concern in disaster research such as planning, warning,evacuation, emergency, restoration, reconstruction,perceptions and adjustments. Alice Fothergill identified ninetypologies of women that can help to identify the socialissues in disaster. As Exposure to risk; risk perception;preparedness behavior; warning communication and response;physical impacts; psychological impacts; emergency response;recovery and reconstruction.8 This study will conduct thesocial change and the restoration and reconstruction of womenduring and after disaster. Contemporary disaster research hasbeen characterized by generalizations on disaster response,ignoring in most cases reference to gender.9 But Fordham andKetteridge (1995) described as women are inadequatelyrepresented in both formal and informal structures andorganizations, though the fact that women carry much of theburden of responsibility for post-disaster reconstruction atthe domestic household level. In most of the community-basedorganizations, women make up the majority of the members:although, fewer are in positions of authority. While generallyrecognized as a vulnerable group requiring particularattention, their specific needs are still often misunderstoodor overlooked.

“Women, Gender and Disaster”, an edited book, is based onwomen vulnerabilities during and after disaster as well as howthey adapt with the disasters. From different countries’perspective, the gender sensitive disasters were discussed.8 Fothergill, Alice, The Neglect of Gender in Disaster Work: An Overview ofthe Literature.9 W. Raymond E., M. Jane S.P., M. D. Thandiwe, M.A. “The needs of Women inDisasters and Emergencies”.


There are many articles on vulnerabilities of women in theperspective of different countries. Besides it focused on howwomen are playing their role to recover their situation andhow they are being treated in the society. As Helena MolinValdés described that a gender approach in disaster riskreduction is built on the understanding that both women andmen are part of the same society, which as we know, does notmean that we have the same rights, education and options—neither in ‘normal’ time nor when a disaster strikes.

Wiest Raymond E. (et al) described as vulnerability of womenis a fact, based on the larger number of women and woman-headed households in emergencies and on the responsibilitiesborne by women related to the stability of the domestic group,including a disproportionate responsibility for dependentchildren. Vulnerability, from this perspective, is primarilycultural and organizational. Natural disasters and emergenciesoften produce single-parent families. Vulnerability can beminimized if adequate measures of assistance and physical andlegal protection are adopted.10

Poor women and children are most likely to become victims ofenvironmental degradation. They are most likely to suffer froman adverse environment, causing their workload to increase andsources of income to decline and consequently they suffer frommalnutrition and ill health. In addition, they even lack ofbasic necessities of life such as access to water andsanitation. There are many rural households who have nolatrines. Furthermore a degraded environment implies futuredifficulties in the sense that resources are very scarce ormot available leading to greater unsustainability (Nazmun,Mahtab, 2007).

Sohel Ibn Ali identified nine characteristics of culturalviolence on women in the society. As

1. Gender specific socialization.2. Cultural definitions of appropriate sex roles.

10 Ibid.


3. Beliefs in the inherent superiority of males.4. Values that give men proprietary rights over women and

girls.5. Notion as the family as the private sphere beyond state

but under male control.6. Customs of marriage7. Acceptance of violence as a means to resolve conflict.8. Fear of and control over female sexuality.9. Changing roles of man and warn as a result of the

urbanization.

These all are the causes of cultural vulnerabilities of peopleby which women are.11 The study mainly focused the women whoaffected by flood during 2007. How women can cope and adaptwith the situation that creates because of disaster. Thisstudy conducted at two upazilas of Sirajgong. Chauhali upazila

The central question deals with how women were coped up withthe situation that creates during flood and how the adapt withthe situation after flood. To find out these strategies thestudy conducted many literature and made the theoreticalbasis. Most of the study that were taken places in thiscountry only focused on the severity of flood and it was onthe basis of during and immediate after flood. Only a fewstudies remain that focused on women and their adaptationstrategies after disaster. For further studies about theadaptation of women

The areas selected for the study of micro-regional data onflood and the impact on women are Chauhali and Sahajadpur, twoof the worst affected Upazilas of Bangladesh. Chauhali islocated in the west bank of the Jamuna River. The five samplevillages were randomly drawn from both mainland and char zone.There were total 30 household units sample size for the study,consisting 5 abandoned by husband households and while theremaining 25 women and men headed households. Thequestionnaire survey and in-depth interview were carried out11 A. Sohel Ibn (2010), Rethinking Development Approach.


during October of 2011. The household heads were directlyinterviewed to represent each primary sampling unit. Inaddition, in-depth interview helps understand the coping andadaptation strategies of women.

Chapter Two

Recent History of Floods in Bangladesh

While there has been a significant decrease in disaster-related deaths in Bangladesh, data is gender neutral, limitingthe ability to determine how men and women are affected. But afew studies following the cyclone and flood disasters of 1991revealed that, among women aged 20-44, the death rate was 71per 1000, compared to 15 per 1000 for men12. Over the years,Bangladesh has experienced a large number of floods and othermany natural disaster. In 1998, over 75% of the total area ofthe country was flooded. It was similar to the catastrophicflood of 1988 in terms of the extent of the flooding. Acombination of heavy rainfall within and outside the countryand synchronization of peak flows of the major riverscontributed to the river. The 2004 flood was very similar tothe 1988 and 1998 floods with two thirds of the country underwater. To understand the frequency and the amount ofdevastation this chapter is introduced, so that it will helpto understand the situation that created after disaster.This chapter mainly discussed about the history of flood inBangladesh. Some recent major floods will be focused in thischapter with a numerical explanation of devastation.

1.3.1. Overall History of floods

Historically Bangladesh is a flood prone country due to itsgeographical location. According to historical information in15th century, the major area of this country was flooded. In17th century there were six major floods. But the frequency offloods increased in 19th century and a large number of floodswere taken place in this century. 1842, 1858, 1871, 1875, 1885and 1892 were flooded many region of the country. Last century12 UNEP, 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004


there was a huge number of floods with a huge devastationduring 1931, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1974,1978, 1984, 1987, 1988 and 1998. In 21st century the frequencyhas more increased of floods in this region and the amount ofdevastation also increased with a higher devastation. 2004 and2007 were devastating flood in this century. Some recentmajor floods will be discussed in this chapter.

1.3.2. Flood in 1973

In May, heavy rains and spate in rivers due to deluge ofwaters from Assam flooded areas in Faridpur, Chittagong HillTracks, Noakhali, Comilla, Sylhet, Pabna and Kustia. As aresult, standing aus, broadcast aman, boro, jute, sugarcane,sweet potato, groundnut, chillies and oilseeds were damaged inthese districts. In Noakhali, comilla and Sylhet, damages tocrops were extensive. In the middle of June, large areas inMymensingh, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rangpur, Bogra and Pabna wereagain flooded. The flood situation worsened due to continuousrains in the first week of July.

1.3.3. Flood in 1974

In 1974 heavy rains flooded places of Kishorganj, Tangail,Faridpur, Comilla, Sylhet and Bogra and damaged boro, jute andother crops. In sylhet, damages to crops were extensive. Inmiddle of May, storms and floods following heavy rains damagedcrops in parts of Dhaka, Kishorganj, Faridpur, and Rangpur. InFaridpur crop damages were high. That time about 28000 peoplewere dead.

1.3.4. Flood in 1984

From May to October the country was hit by devastating floodscaused by incessant torrential rains and heavy onrush of waterfrom overflowing rivers and their tributers (A. Mohiuddin,1989). Vast area of comilla, Noakhali, Sylhet, Dhaka,Faridfur, Jamalpur, Kishoreganj and Tangail were inundatedduring the early monsoon in May. In 1984’s flood about 5000


people were died and more than 1.25 millon houses destroyed, 8million people became homeless, 45 million people directlyaffected. Total flood damage was estimated at US$2.2 billion.

1.3.5. Flood in 1988The flood of 1988, which was also of catastrophic consequence,occurred throughout August and September. The waters inundatedabout 82,000 km2 of land, (about 60% of the area) and itsreturn period was estimated at 50–100 years. Rainfall togetherwith synchronization of very high flows of all the three majorrivers of the country in only three days aggravated theflood. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, was severelyaffected. The flood lasted 15 to 20 days. 5,000 deaths, 1.25million houses destroyed, 8 million people homeless, 45million people directly affected. Total flood damage wasestimated at US$ 2.2 billion.

1.3.6. Flood in 1998

In September 1998, Bangladesh saw the most devastatingflooding in modern world history. 300 000 houses, 9 700 km ofroad, 2,700 km of embankment, 700 000 hectares of crop landhave been damaged or destroyed. Two-thirds of the country wasunderwater. Death toll was 1 000 and 31 million made homeless,135 000 cattle killed, damage was estimated to be US$ 2.8billion. There were several reasons for the severity of theflooding. Firstly, there were unusually high monsoon rains.Secondly, the Himalayas shed off an equally unusually highamount of melt water that year. Trees that usually interceptrain water were cut down for firewood or for husbandry.

1.3.7. Flood in 2004

Floods during April knocked out over 80 per cent of the ricecrop in certain areas of Bangladesh. Sporadic flooding beganin May. A second set of floods in July wiped out householdfood stocks and removed other sources of nutrition and incomesuch as livestock rearing and agricultural day labor. Thisriver flooding with the normal pattern of slow rising waterlevels along the main river systems soon changed with a sudden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaka


increase in water levels causing flash flooding and rapidflows in major rivers. Torrential downpours in September againled to localized flooding. Flood water remained standing forup to three months in some areas. 39 of the 64 districts ofthe country were affected, including Dhaka city. More than 30million people were affected directly. Over 4 million houseswere damaged and 4 million people displaced. Total death tollwas 747. The mega flood in 2004 caused a damage estimated tobe about US$ 2.2 billion. A UN inter-agency flash appeal (FA)for US$210 million was launched.

1.3.8. Flood in 2007

The flood of 2007 has been observed as unusual in character,hitting the country with two peaks. The mountain torrents andmonsoon downpours caused the three major rivers Ganges,Brahmaputra and Meghna to swell and overspill into towns andvillages across the country. Heavy runoff from the upstreamcatchment boundary with India aggravated the disaster,denoting the need of co-operation and co-ordination betweenco-riparian countries.

During this monsoon, the country experienced various types offlood sporadically in different places. According togovernment statistics, a total of more than 10 million peoplewere badly affected, a million homes were damaged while 36,000km of roads and 8,000 km of river embankments were alsoruined. The floods have claimed more than 500 lives, andaround 53 000 people have contracted diarrhea, dysentery, cholera andother water-borne diseases. There is a serious shortage offood and drinking water.

Conclusion

A preliminary estimate by the Department of AgriculturalExtension estimates the floods to have damaged crops worthabout US$286 million in the 39 flood-hit districts out of thecountry's 64 districts. The damaged crops include rice, jute,


vegetable and spices on around 469,000 hectares of land. Thefloods have also caused enormous damage to fisheries.

Besides flooding, the people of Bangladesh are also repeatedlyconfronted by other natural and human-made catastrophes suchas surface and groundwater pollution, droughts, cyclones,riverbank erosion, air pollution, wetland loss, tornadoes,earthquakes, and coastal erosion.

Flood in Bangladesh can't be controlled even with all theresources of the world put together, President Ershad told thepress. ''Even partial protection requires a lot of money, andBangladesh is a poor country”13.

13 http://www.climateavenue.com/cl.imp.sealevel.Bangladesh.htm - lastvisited 15-01-2012

http://www.climateavenue.com/cl.imp.sealevel.Bangladesh.htm


Chapter Three

Floods Situation and Its Impacts in Bangladesh

Catastrophe is always constructing imbalance in the society.Flood is a natural catastrophe and devastative so it makesimbalance even in whole country. People of Bangladesh are usedto live with floods. But recently the severity and frequencyof floods are increasing and the magnitude of flooddevastation also increasing. In 1987’s flood about 30 millionpeople were affected and caused about 1800 deaths inBangladesh. The floods in 1988 were even more serious,covering about 60 percent of the land area, affecting about 45million people, and causing more than 2,300 deaths14. In 1998,over 68 percent of the country was inundated15 and caused about2,380 deaths. In 2000 and 2002 floods affected approximately20 million people. In the year 2004, devastating monsoon floodsubmerged two-thirds of the country, 35.9 million peopleaffected, 726 deaths, millions of people made homeless16. In2007 Flood were affected about 13,771,380 people ofBangladesh. So it is clear that the affecting area andpopulation are increasing.

Impacts on women:

Although a disaster affects every segments of population butthere is gender variations to vulnerability and capabilityduring disasters.17 Women are facing more problems than men

14 Irrigation Support Project for Asia and the Near East (1993: 1).15 Rayhan, M. I and Grote, U, Assessing Poverty, Risk and Vulnerability: Astudy on the Flooded Households in Rural Bangladesh.16 http://www.adb.org/Documents/Economic_Updates/BAN/2004/eco-update-ban.pdf.17 Rayhan Md. Israt and Grote Ulrike, Assessing Poverty, Risk andVulnerability: A study on the Flooded Households in Rural Bangladesh.


during disaster because of their gender identity. Especiallywomen in poor and marginal households become more vulnerableand distressed. Women face physical, psychological and socialproblems which are much more severe than male counter partfaces. Secondly women have to bear the most of the burden ofcoping with flood and after flood situation. Longitudinalstudies (Nasreen, 1995, 1999, 2008) 18 argue that disastersaffect both women and men but the burden of coping withdisasters falls heavily on women. Due to flood this studyclassifies women’s problems into two broad categories. Theseare physical problems and social problems.

۞ Physical impacts:

Women have to live within the household. More specificallyuneducated and poor women are more confined to the householdboundary. Therefore physically women are more sufferer offlood than male through responsibilities of washing and watercollection. This study found that during flood women fallunder very critical position in case of sanitation, familymanagement, cattle management, and maintaining children. Inaddition to that women are very much exposed to water borndiseases as because they have to collect water, wash cloth andcattle and other household chores. In this study respondentswere saying they fall very critical position when flood hitsthe village because there is no sanitary latrine during floodperiod. In the case of water born diseases women are the morevictim to different water born diseases because women havecollect water for the family member. They had to go far way tocollect pure drinking water and sometime women collect waterfrom canal and other unhygienic sources so they are moreexposed to unhygienic water which causes for different waterborn diseases. In addition to that in case of washing cloths,cattle and other household necessities women have go closetouch with unhygienic and sometimes affected water. Thereforewomen are more vulnerable to different kinds of skin diseases18 Nasreen, Mahbuba(2010), The Daily Star, February 24, 2010.


and other water born diseases. Socially women are not exposedto the public domain. Therefore there is lack of heathfacilities for women during flood and after flood situationand even if it is present women cannot attain that advantagebecause of different social sigma. So in case of heath,sanitation and other basic physical necessities of women areignored during the flood and after flood period. Women suffermore during the flood period than the normal period as becausechance of affecting by diseases increases during that period.Besides if women were unable to do everything in a right wayfrom food collection to all other household activities she hasto face different types of physical torture.

Physically tortured because of inability procure food

Nasima, 25, from Thutia, She is unable to work now due to having headaches all the time. When her husband gets angry, he hits her. Nasima says that, although her husband has been violent since their marriage began, “it has increased after the flood of 2007. Myfault is that I was not able to get relief… Whenever he is angry, he hits me in the head, waist and legs and asks, ‘How do other women receive 20/30 kg of rice?’ ‘Why don’t you beg for rice from the Commissioner?’ He does not give us food regularly but is regular in beating.” Nasima feels that as long as he can feed the family, she is willing to digest all his beating.

o Pregnant women:

Pregnant women are the most vulnerable during flood. It isknown to all that pregnant women needed special care. Butduring disaster and after disaster the prioritized sector of afamily even whole village were busy to reconstruct theirhousehold. So the pregnant women become behind the scene. Nospecial care was given. As a result, these women have tosuffer more and cause different types of physical problem.


The sufferings of Nasirun during flood.

Nasirun19 was the pregnant during 1988 flood. It was herfirst child and was a horrible experience of givingchildbirth. There were no professionals women duringdelivery. Her husband was day labor and was unable toafford doctor. At that time she had borne a female child inher father’s house. She and her husband were staying in herfather’s house during flood. It was a new borne baby with alot of suffering in flooded house. She was staying on theroof of their house with her new borne baby. After disasterher husband has gone to work in city but didn’t return.Still she doesn’t know whether he lived or dead and don’tknow whether he will return or not. From then she alwaysfight with poverty and still she is working in neighborhouse. Now her daughter got married and mother of a child.

o Adolescent girls:

There was almost no state mechanism to provide security in thedisaster shelters. Even women and girls were not safe fromneighboring men or close relatives. Many women and girls donot go to shelter due to lack of security. Besides women aresuffering from a lot of deprivations as poor access toinformation, food, safe water and sanitation, to health carefacilities, to education, housing and ownership, land andinheritance and to livelihood. They are also unused toparticipate in decision making and protection, security andbodily integrity. Most of the rights violations gounrecognized.

۞ Household headed women

It is evident that women face several problems during disasterin procuring and processing food, collecting drinking water,maintaining health and sanitation, facilitating child caring,

19 Nasirun (36) live in Saudia Chandpur of Chauhali Upazila is working at “Acchu” Mama’s house. Acchu mama helped us in every aspects of collecting primary data.


living in platforms or shelters or flood refugees, maintainingsecurity, getting access to resources or support fromdifferent sources etc. However, although poor rural women have very few options opento them to overcome their problems, their roles in disastersare obviously not simple: they relate to a complete range ofsocio-economic activities. During floods women continue to bebearers and socializers of children, collectors and providersof food, fuel, water, fodder, building materials and keepersof household belongings: they also represent a productivepotential which is not discussed earlier. It is women'sstrategies, developed over the years, those are vital inenabling the rural people to cope with disaster.

۞ Social impact

Social impact of flood on women is more invisible and contextdependent but outcome of cultural construction of gender. Thestudy has been found that early marriage, social insecurity ofwomen, and continuation of subordinate status quo of womenincreases due to flood and it is more likely to happen in thepoorest area. As women stay in the house they have to bear themost painful part of flood. When flood hits any region itcomes with some social disadvantages like disturbances of cropproduction and damage, unemployment, shortage of food etc.following some social impact of flood are mentioned.

o Increasing women headed family in flood affected area:

As girl stay in the house they simply treated as burden. Inthis regard flood induces this feeling and increases thetendencies of early marriage in the poorest areas. The studyarea it has been found that parents are more willing to giveearly marriage because they don’t have sufficient resources toeducate their children and they simply think educating femalechild is worthless. Most of the cases the study observed that


girls were getting early marriage with some unknown people whohave came here to catch fish as a fisherman. Fathers/guardianwants to get rid of from “konna dhay” 20. But after marriagetheir married life sustains only two, three or four years.Most of the cases it is occurred that when the first childborn husband leave them. Thus women loss both sides father andhusband sides.

o Social Insecurity:

During flood male person in the household go outside of familyin search of employment while in the mean time women have tomaintain whole family. She has to cook, collect firewood,maintain children and cattle and she has to do other task offamily. So she has to face initial food insecurity along withother social problems.

Rahima Khatun21 states that during disaster they had nofood. Her husband were loaned some rice for them andwere gone outside the village for searching the work.She has four dependent children. It was very difficultto look after all the children alone. At the same timeshe has to collect firewood cook and keeping them save.Once the younger child was fall in water from “macha22”and she became nervous for it.

Apart from familial pressure women has to face different typesof risk during and after disasters. Women face risk of sexualharassment, physical violence and other social insecurity butbecause of social fear women has to hide all of theseincidences. It is evident that women face violence throughout

20 Literally Konna dhay refers a responsibility or difficulty of marrying a daughter. Konna dhayrefers when a daughter reach at 15-16 years, guardians become worried about their marriage. They always thought to give her marriage before spoiled as falling love with village’s boy or involve with illegal biological activity that make their prestige’s puncture. When it preach in the village it becomes difficult to give her marriage. So that people use this term Konna dhay. 21 Rahima Khatun is from Saudia Chandpur of Chauhali Upazila.22 Macha refers a platform that is made for flood protection with bamboo and beetle-nut wood plant in order to make higher place.


their lives. Disaster affected women cite many forms ofstructural discriminations against them: early marriage, men'sunemployment, frustration, dowry, use of drugs or smoking,lack of women's security and many more as causes of violenceagainst them.

Impact of flood on disable women is more acute. They are theimmediate victim of flood. After flood situation theycondition deteriorate rather improve. Disable women normallyhave less access to relief and other support for floodvictims. In addition to that they need some extra care andfacilities for coming back to the normal situation which theydidn’t get from the society. They are less important person tothe society as they are differently able (disable) and on theother hand they are women. So, these two status increasevulnerabilities of differently able (disable) women much morethan any other person in the society.

o Psychological Impacts

The impacts of a disaster may also produce emotional distressand trauma. This section evaluates literature on the genderednature of disasters psychological impacts, both immediate andlong term. Many researchers find that females express moremental health problems from disasters, such as stress,depression, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, andanxiety. Women expressed greater amounts of stress than menand response to a tornado prediction.

Jamila Banu23 (25) lost her husband during floods because ofsnake bite and during his death three children was below 10years. Her husband had no land to cultivate but house. She isworking all day from early morning to late night andcongregates their food. She states that it was the mostmemorable occurrence that made him like mad. Her elderdaughter joined with him and works all day with her in manyhomes. Sometime many government and non-government projects

23 Respondents from Saudia Chandpur of Chauhali Upazila.


call her to work. But this job only for few days and again shehas to join in people’s house. The similar example but slightdifferently experienced about 20% of the respondents.

Conclusion:

The impacts of a flood are diversified and cyclical as if anyaccident occurs for anyone of a family the whole family has tosuffer. After flood and riverbank erosion the multiple burdensimposed on women. At the same time they have to maintainfamily (household activities) and income generatingactivities. There were a few cases in this study that NGOs andGovernment organizations have a tendency to empower womenwhere at the same time men have no work. Because of thisreason women maintain both household and outside where men donot want to involve with the household work also. In mostcases this study observed that there is a tendency toabandoned wife after three or four years of marriage in chararea. If women were abandoned by husband; she has to rethinkabout her life. But the empowering by different organizations,women are now feelings more freedom in some cases.

Chapter Five

Adaptation Strategies

Poor people are the worst sufferer from most of all kinds ofdisaster; even they are most contributors in mitigating theimpact of flood. These climate-related events—compounded bypoverty, environmental degradation, and inadequate disastermanagement—have profound impacts particularly on poor women, men andchildren who may have less capacity, skills and resources to adapt.24

24 Fajber , Liz, Senior Associate, Institute for Social and EnvironmentalTransition., publish- Gender and Water Alliance,

http://www.genderandwater.org/


Women are more vulnerable to climate disasters than menthrough their socially constructed roles and responsibilities,and their relatively poorer and more economically vulnerableposition especially, in the developing world25. Adaptationrequires assessment of vulnerability from the viewpoint ofdifferent disciplines, which then requires an integratedapproach. Natural disaster incorporates everyone as rich,poor, women, men, child, old, beggar. When it took place noone can get rid of from its devastation. Floods as a naturaldisaster are the cause of huge devastation that is explainedprevious. But the adaptation strategies are different becauseof their ability. The richer easily cope with the situationbecause of their available network, food and other facilities.Where poor people can’t afford their basic needs as food andmedicine. That’s why they take time to adapt with thesituation that creates after disaster for the poorer. Thissituation is worse for the women headed family. Women havemany restriction to work outside the house, lower payment fortheir work, limited access in agriculture and industrialsector, only household activities are remain for them in lowerpayment. This study would analyze adaptation strategies ofwomen from different perspective. On the basis of location asstatus and public linkage, on the basis of income, and on thebasis of reliefs they got during and after disaster. On thebasis of location this study divides adaptation strategies intwo ways. First, House near to the roads and second, House inthe middle of char.

House near to the roads:

The people who are living near to the roads are less affectedby floods than who are living in the middle of char. People whoare living near to the roads can easily and swiftly move theirmaterials and furniture. They get easily all kinds of

http://iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/GenderWaterandClimateChangelast visited 14-1-1225 Zaman Dr. MNH, Women are more vulnerable to climate disasters, TheFinancial Express, 1 march 2011.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=127556&date=2011-03-01

http://iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/GenderWaterandClimateChange%20last%20visited%2014-1-12

http://iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/GenderWaterandClimateChange%20last%20visited%2014-1-12


government and non-government relief and sanitation problemalso can easily manage. This study conducted some peoples whoare living near to the roads. Some people became more affluentthan their previous situation.

Amerun Begum (Real name were used after her permission)

Age: 49

Amerun Begum is a housewife of Nurul Islam with four sonsand a daughter in Chauhali Upazilla at Saudia Chandpur. AbuShams is her elder son was work in the field with hisfather and rest of all were helped their father in theiragricultural field. Her husband and elderly son were daylabour who earned money. During 2007 flood they rapidlyshifted their house and furnitures up to the roads. Nothingwas damaged during flood only their yard and homestead wereflooded. She argued that “we are fewer sufferers thanothers, but there are a large number of people who havelost many things even house”. After flood she got a cowfrom her relative and her four sons are now working as aday labour. All kinds of government and non-governmentrelief they were got. After flood they reconstruct theirhouse again and became wealthier then before flood. At thissituation I had expect that she will say now we are happy.

This is totally different picture from them who are living inthe middle of char.

House in the middle of char:

It was very difficult to shift house, furniture and othernecessary things from middle or the area that remote fromroads. At that time the possibility of stealing increased sopeople didn’t want to leave their house. So they have todiscover new strategy to live with flood. Some strategiesare--


o Making “Macha”.o Making Floating “bela”o Stay with boat.o Staying on roof of house. o Staying on tree.o Staying nearer upland etc.

In these case people have to face different types of problems. As a. Snake biteb. Insecurity of childrenc. Skin diseasesd. Stealinge. Starvingf. Lower government and non-government relief.g. Sanitation problemh. Pure drinking water problemi. Losing domestic animalj. Women, elderly people and child caring problemk. Women’s reproductive health probleml. Fewer opportunity of getting medicine.

House middle of char is more risky and complex than near to the road and the vulnerability of poor women also is more who in the middle of char.

Women’s Adaptation Strategies: Case from Sirajgong

Women, generally, are responsible for reproductive tasks suchas food collection and energy supply for the household as wellas many care-giving tasks, such as caring for the children,sick, elderly, home and assets. In many societies, socio-cultural norms and care giving responsibilities prevent womenfrom migrating to look for shelter and work when a disasterhits. Water, sanitation and health challenges put an extraburden on women in case of any disaster26.

Strengthening agricultural and livestock production

The study observed that there is a common tendency to have acow. The study area is highly affected by riverbank erosionthan flood and they think it is safer to have a cow or goat.26 Ibid.


After flood or riverbank erosion they claim to their relativeto give a cow for share and it is true that in every family ofthe study area has two to three cows and goats. Forstrengthening agricultural production systems to be moreresilient to climate variability through growing differentcrops, drought-tolerant, water-resistant and fodder varieties,planting early or late sowing varieties women and men workstogether. But crop diversification and adapted agriculturaland livestock practices often require information and skilltraining about planting; suitability of varieties; proper useof manure, pesticides and irrigation; post-harvest methods;and improved animal husbandry. Poor populations, andparticularly women, often have limited access to extensionservices for needed inputs and information. They may also lackcredit and financial resources, and appropriate links tomarkets, necessary for investment in new crops and products.In most flood affected area, specific efforts need to be madeto ensure that women are included in developing platforms andprocesses of learning and exchange towards improved and moreresilient agricultural production

Ms Kamala (35) from Thutia Union has a terribleexperience of flood. She has four dependent childand elderly people. Husband was ill and no one hadany job. So she had to maintain the whole family.From morning to night she has to fight for food andmedicine for husband. There was no job for femalebecause the whole village was flooded. She took loanfrom many relatives and maintained her husband’smedicine. There was no sanitation system, tube well.So most of the time she used “polithin” (plastic bag)for their sanitation and for water collection she hasto go more than a half kilometer. Her elderly sonhelped him to collect water. After disaster housereconstruction, food collection, cultivating cropsand rearing child become her daily routine. Fouryears has gone but still she has to work restless


from morning to night.

During and immediately after disasters, deaths, diseases andinjuries occur from such incidences as waterborne diseases,snake bites, drowning, fall of large trees and collapse ofphysical structures. In all such cases of danger, women areparticularly susceptible. Furthermore, lack of medicalfacilities, malnutrition, disrupted supply of pure drinkingwater and lack of proper sanitation facilities make women'slife increasingly vulnerable. During cyclones and floods,women and adolescent girls suffer as sanitation systems aredestroyed. Pregnant women, lactating mothers and differently-abled (disabled) women suffer the most -- as they find itdifficult to quickly move to safety before and after anynatural calamity.

Zahanara Begum (55) of Saudia Chandpur at ChawhaliUpazilla in Sirajgong. During disaster she was sufferingfrom severe fever. There was no doctor in that char andshe was about to die. Two days later her husband manages adoctor from nearest village. Because of her seriouscondition doctor was compelled to inject her saline and toprescribe her many anti-biotic tablets. The medicine werereacted her and turn into another disease khichuni27. Whenher condition became worse her husband took him in upazilahealth complex. But it did not cure her and now she issuffering from khichuni and can’t face any serioussituation.

It is interesting to mention, this study faces her twotimes because of her khichuni. First time when interviewwas taken, she became flat and her body was shaking andshe fell in the yard.

Defining needs such as access to a supply of clean water,health, food or other essentials as ‘women’s needs’ reinforces

27 Khichuni is one kind of disease that makes a man shake and faint.


gender stereotypes of women as mothers and care giver person,and does not call into question the conditions that constructwomen in these roles or their consequences. In societies wheredogmatic religious customs and rituals prevail, most oftendisaster relief efforts pay little or no attention to women'sreproductive and sexual health guided by superstitions, and asa result, women's health suffers disproportionately. There areincidents often reported in the media where women have beenabused sexually in connection with the distribution of reliefgoods and services. During natural disasters, more women die(compared to men) because they are not adequately warned,cannot swim well or cannot leave the house alone. Moreover,lower levels of education reduce the ability of women andgirls to access information including early warning, andresources, or to make their voices heard.

Household Work

Women are socially and culturally defined for household work.They are working at home from early morning to night. They aregetting up early morning and work relentlessly whole day andgo to bed at last. Their duty to serve the whole family andthey eat at the end whatever rest. Sometime they have tostarve because of lack of food. From early morning to beforegoing bed they have to do many things as child rearing,cooking, firewood collecting, maintaining the householdactivity and make the home neat and clean. Men are notaccounting their relentless work even they did not want torecognize their work as work. It is only because of moneyfactor (that women activity does not contribute money).

Rearing ChildrenIn the times of natural disaster, women and children are themost vulnerable. Generally in our society women are excludedfrom income generating activities as well as they have novoice in decision making process in the family and society. Soduring disaster the main activities of women become to lookafter children and house hold activates. In that case if menwere outside of the home, they have to maintain all the thingshousehold, child rearing and income generating activates.


Women are looking after children so she has to ensure food,medicine etc.

More conscious about childMarjina Begum, from thutia village, tied herself to a tree trunk to survive on the night of the cyclone. She was pregnant and suffering from malnutrition. After a while, she was unable to stand due to pain in her lower abdomen. The child in her womb stopped moving. She did not have any money to go to a doctor. She was panicked, doubting whether her unborn child would see the light ofthe world, even if she herself survived.

Health Care

It is a very important issue during disaster even all the timewho will serve the ill member of the family. Floodincreases water-associated disease such as cholera anddiarrhoea, particularly in areas with inadequate sanitation.Flooding and water logging may also serve as breeding groundsfor vectors for diseases such as malaria and dengue. Atpresent, diseases caused by inadequate access to safe drinkingwater and sanitation. Women and girls are particularly exposedto water-associated diseases through responsibilities ofwashing and water collection. Gender discrimination inallocation of medicines and access to health services mayplace women and girls further at risk. Furthermore, womenoften are the main caregivers for family members sufferingfrom disease and illness.

Diversified livelihoods and migration

Many poor rural women and men are responding to environmentaland economic hardship through diversifying their livelihoodsto non-farm labour. This diversification can enhance theirresilience as evidenced in India where middle-income familiessolely dependent on farm incomes were more vulnerable todrought than poorer families that had already diversifiedtheir sources of income. Those with skills and social networksmay migrate to urban or peri-urban centers seeking alternativeemployment, and many families throughout the world have at

http://iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/DrinkingWaterStandards

http://iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/DrinkingWaterStandards

http://iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/Sanitation

http://iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/Water-baseddiseases


least one family member sending remittances. However, changeof livelihoods requires skills, and women, generally with lesseducation and access to skills or training, and more limitedmobility than men, may not be able to obtain non-farm work, orend up working in low-skilled jobs with low wages. Most ofthis employment is in the informal sector with limited socialprotection and harsh working conditions. While migration mayultimately strengthen adaptive capacity for families “athome”, it also exposes migrants to new social vulnerabilities.

Enhancing economic assets

A strong asset base, ownership of liquefiable assets, andaccess to financial services such as credit and insurance canassist poor women and men to cope with losses arising fromclimate extremes and economic shocks. Emerging micro- and low-cost insurance schemes such as weather-indexed crop insurancemay also assist poor men and women to cope. However, financialservices need to be made more accessible to the poor andespecially to women, through for example flexible repaymentoptions.

Conclusion

The adaptation strategies vary because of the location andenvironment. This study only conducted those people who arepoor and flood affected. Basically women got the priority tointerview and men came in discussion for observe the situationand recheck the situation and statement of women. It isobserved that women were tolerating these types of situationand be quite to survive with husband. Though in the societythey have no recognition; but still they are working forhusband, children and for other family members


Chapter Six

Conclusion and Recommendation

Recommendations for policy and practice

Flood risk reduction is an essential part of adaptation as thefirst line of defence against climate change impacts such asincreased flooding and regular droughts. Gender-responsivedisaster planning and risk reduction measures, linked withlong-term development planning, can ensure that women and menare better able to respond to and recover from extreme events.For example, raising the plinth level of houses, buildingcommunity shelters, and protecting seed and livestock canenhance women and men’s ability to cope with flooding events.Appropriate sanitation facilities, such as elevated latrineunits reduce fecal contamination of water resources, therebyreducing disease. They also provide safe and secure spaces forwomen to meet sanitary and hygiene needs with dignity.Appropriate and accessible early storm or flood warningmechanisms that consider gender differentiated access totechnologies (such as cell phones) and information can enablewomen and men to move in time to safe locations. Strongerlinkages between disaster risk reduction experience and toolsand adaptation planning from local to international levels canhelp build resilience of women and men to climate variability.Similarly, adaptation efforts, and attention to the shiftinghazard burden of longer-term changes in climate strategiesshould inform the disaster risk reduction community. Gender-sensitive disaster management planning saved lives of women,men and children.

Adaptation strategies need to be strengthened and reinforcedby enabling policy and practice. Future efforts are needed to:


To ensure vulnerability reduction measures; strengthencapacity at the local level for women and men to understanddifferential climate change direct and indirect impacts,priorities and adaptation strategies.

Developed bottom up, and the voices and priorities ofvulnerable women and men need to be heard and addressed.Strengthen equitable participation of gender-sensitive womenand men in adaptation decision-making platforms at multiplelevels.

Meaningful participation in decision-making on climatechange responses ensure that climate change policy andinterventions respond to specific needs of women and men. Itcan also help raise the profile and status of women and girlsin communities, and challenge traditional assumptions abouttheir capabilities.

Promote gender-sensitive technologies and practices, andgender-inclusive institutions for water management,agricultural and livestock production, and alternative energythat promote equity and efficiency.

Increase access of the poor—and of women—to extensioninformation and services, credit and financial services,training and skills development programmes. Access to theseresources can support diversification into less climate-sensitive incomes and enhance livelihood security.

Facilitate linkages between gender-responsive disaster riskreduction and adaptation planning from local to internationallevels.

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicatorsin UNFCCC mechanisms and instruments, and national policiesand action plans (including NAPAs). Effective and accountablemonitoring and evaluation of adaptation and mitigationfinancing mechanisms at national and international levels arenecessary to ensure that women and men’s diverse prioritiesare met.

Conclusion:

Flood has differential impacts on men and women both. Sinceflood affected home, crop field, roads, bridge etc so bothhave to suffer; but women (poor women) are worst suffererfrom flood. This study had chosen the area two observe the


vulnerability of women both river bank erosion and flood.Though they are affected by flood but the impact of riverbank erosion is severe in that area. This study has founddifferent types of vulnerabilities of women in different ageand different adaptation strategies of women. Especiallyfamily headed women have to manage many thing as well associety. At that time the affected women headed family passa critical moment. It is observed that in the area ofChauhali and Shahzadpur there are a few Non-GovernmentOrganization (NGOs) to serve loan. Even no one of therespondent of the study was involved with the NGO loan butthey loaned from neighbor. They are more united and helpeach other during flood. It is neglected in our society towork women outside the family and discouraged in incomegenerating activities. But few government initiatives helpwomen to work outside and helping to generate income.Location varies the impact and differential adaptationstrategies; there is no unified adaptation strategy ratherit depends on the necessities. Lack of understanding ofthese differential impacts of disasters on women by disastermanagers not only runs the risk of overlooking obvious andmore delicate wants and priorities but can also diminish theefficiency of disaster response. It needs further researchand needs more emphasize on women to find the easy way toadapt. It is expected that this study may provide someuseful and practical guides to disaster managers to addressto the differential needs of women and facilitate an all-encompassing, impartial and well-organized emergencymanagement system.

Women; Their needs and Adaptation Strategies after disaster

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