Socio-economic Resilience to Natural Disaster among Coastal people: A study in Dacope Upazila of Khulna District of bangladesh

The south-west coastal region of Bangladesh, the most disaster prone area, is delineated as an acute socio-ecological complexity, where people, particularly women are powerless, socio-economically marginalized and vulnerable. Following qualitative study, both primary and secondary data have been used to carry out the study in Dacope Upazila. People of this area are experiencing tremendous water problems every day and struggling with nature and suffering miscellaneous problems, lack of pure drinking water is one of these. Geographical location, Climate change and river erosion is the direct causes of water scarcity and it induces salinity intrusion in this coastal belts. Information on the role of women and challenges in securing potable water supply and its impact on livelihood pattern is important as it forms a vital baseline. Findings reveal that women face a number of right abuses as a direct result in securing potable water. In disaster prone area most of the women fetch water by walking from 3-4 kilometers away by consuming 2-3 hours. Gathering drinking water means a momentous amount of productive hours consumed. Household consumption accelerates to purchase fresh water. Participation of children in school is lessening day by day to assist in collecting water or as a result of limited facilities and water supplies for sanitation and personal hygiene. Basically most of the household purify water by using alum (Fitkiri) before drinking. Due to poor quality of drinking water and salinity problem, people suffer from various water borne diseases. Also, trekking distances to access water women fall in danger of being victims of physical injuries like spine damages, backbone, pain and bone decay etc. This challenges alienate them from socio-economic facilities and indulge them temporal migration, lead low standard of living and unhygienic sanitation, living with income crisis and malnutrition

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