Author(s): Debanjali Saha; Sujit Kumar Bala; Hamidul Huq; Rabeya Sultana Leya; Kumiko Fujita; Gulshan Ara Parvin
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Abstract: Bangladesh frequently faces normal flood events and every once in a while, extreme flood disaster causes enormous damages to the vulnerable community. The vast Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basins at the upstream sides of Bangladesh contribute largely to the yearly riverine floods of the north-west, while intense flashes of water from the hilly regions cause regular flash flood in the haor regions. Such distress turns into massive devastation during a major flood event, like the one in 2017. This flood not only caused untold miseries to the affected community, but also left them in awe due to its untimely nature and destructive impacts. Like every other natural disaster, flood needs to be managed so that its damaging aspects can be minimized. Proper flood management strategies and planning become even more essential during extreme events. In these times, the disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, otherwise termed as ‘gender’, experience more sufferings than others, as coping ability of a community largely depend on gender relations, their socio-economic conditions and access to relevant allocated resources [1]. However, disaster management plans and implementation activities often lack the gender equity perspective which hampers the success and effectiveness of disaster management. Therefore, it is important to ensure gender balance during regular flood disaster management, more importantly for the major floods. Gender mainstreaming and women empowerment in disaster management have been emphasized in many government policies and frameworks of Bangladesh. Gender Action Plan (2013), Sendai Framework (2015-2030) and other revised disaster related policies have documented the importance of gender perspective in disaster risk reduction strategies. But sadly, there are significant gaps when it comes to the implementation of gender sensitive disaster management activities. Moreover, very few studies have been conducted [2,3] to get a detailed impression of gender mainstreaming in flood management in Bangladesh to point out the flaws and suggest proper coping st rategies. This paper focused on determining gender aspects in flood disaster management of north-east and north-west regions of Bangladesh in terms of an extreme flood event, i. e., 2017 flood. Based on the present situation of flood management and plausible recommendation for gender balance, this paper can assist in establishing the fact that resilient women or gender can truly play a vital role as ‘agents of change’ in disaster risk reduction planning and management.
Year: 2018