Cyclone, coastal society and migration: empirical evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

In this study the effectiveness of adaptive coping strategies to reduce the damage cost and its consequences for social structural change are examined. Here, migration is considered as a strategic step to cope with the adverse effect of cyclone Aila of 2009 in Bangladesh. A survey of 288 respondents demonstrated that male members of cyclone victims' family were likely to move nearer cities immediately after the end of relief programme. They live in slum environments to accumulate more money for their dependants, but out-migration from the family creates more social problems for their spouse. It introduces changes in local social structure. Income and asset distribution play a vital role in deciding movement. This study depicts a societal cluster of migration correlating with previous disaster data that introduces a new methodological tool for analysing the disaster-migration nexus.