Gender and Age as Factors in Disaster Vulnerability: A Study of River Erosion Victims in Bogra District, Bangladesh

Citation:

Akmam, Wardatul, Shubhana Lina Hasin, and Md. Fakrul Islam. 2020. "Gender and Age as Factors in Disaster Vulnerability: A Study of River Erosion Victims in Bogra District, Bangladesh." In Environmental Economics and Computable General Equilibrium Analysis, edited by John R. Madden, Hiroyuki Shibusawa, and Yoshio Higano, 395-414. Singapore: Springer Singapore.

Authors: Wardatul Akmam, Shubhana Lina Hasin, Md. Fakrul Islam

Abstract:

This study endeavors to measure the vulnerability of individuals to the erosion of Jamuna River in two unions (Kornibari and Kutubpur) within Sariakandi Upazila of Bogra district, Bangladesh and discover the factors that are associated with such vulnerability. The data were collected from 218 respondents using social survey methods, who were selected purposively in order to represent different age groups (e.g., 13–19 years, 20–40 years, 41–60 years, and more than 60 years) and the two genders (male and female). SPSS and Microsoft Excel software have been used for processing and analyzing data. Individual was the unit of analysis. Vulnerability level of each of the respondents has been calculated. Findings show that on the basis of the model and indicators used in this study to calculate vulnerability, 76.1% of the respondent riverbank erosion victims belonged to the “more vulnerable” group assuming a value between 0–1 and 23.9% to the “less vulnerable” group assuming a value between -1 and 0. Chi-square test results reveal a significant association between the level of vulnerability and age, being solvent, family income, having access to financial institutions, getting the help of neighbors, having completed at least 5 years of schooling, having sources of income other than agriculture and having experienced erosion more than once. However, gender was not found to be significantly associated with vulnerability.

Keywords: disaster, vulnerability, factors associated with vulnerability, gender, age, riverbank erosion victim, exposure, adaptive capacity, sensitivity

Topics: Age, Economies, Education, Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Bangladesh

Year: 2020