Exploring Community Disaster Resilience After Kosi Floods 2008 in Bihar, India

Abstract

In India, the emphasis on disaster management primarily focuses on structural reconciliation. So, post-disaster reconstruction mostly becomes inadequate to be sustainable and to help the affected people revive to their desired states of recovery. The lack of state mechanisms raises major questions about the practices adopted for sustenance at the individual and community levels. In the context of the Kosi River flood in Bihar in the year 2008, the main aim of the study is to explore the reconciliatory practices and changes in the rural society of Bihar to cope with the post-flood impacts in the absence of adequate institutional support. The present study also tries to explore the resilience capacity of community members to revive from the post-flood period. A qualitative study was conducted using grounded theory approach. A total of 23 participants were interviewed through a semi-structured interview guide. Results depict that community members adopt different coping mechanisms to deal with the impact of disasters.