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Floods in megacity environments: vulnerability and coping strategies of slum dwellers in Dhaka/Bangladesh

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Abstract

In many megacities of the global south, the combination of rapid population growth and high pressure on space for housing, results in urban growth taking place in areas particularly prone to natural hazards. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is no exception to this rule. Many marginal settlements or slums are located on low-lying land at high risk of flooding. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of slum dwellers in Dhaka and highlights the major factors behind their sensitivity to floods and their ability to adapt to the related changes. The empirical findings presented are based on a questionnaire survey covering 625 households in five slum areas of Dhaka. Our data suggests that social capital plays an important role with regard to the ability of slum dwellers to find ways to live with the floods. Regardless of how strongly people are affected, mutual help and support are dominant features in times of crises. While poorly educated and resourced slum dwellers are highly vulnerable to external shocks, they still show a surprising capacity to cope with natural calamities.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the German Research Foundation for the financial support received for our research project DhakaHazard within the Priority Programme “Megacities—Megachallenge: Informal Dynamics of Global Change”. We also thank C. Simmer and I. Thiele-Eich (University of Bonn), A. Krämer and M. H. Khan (University of Bielefeld), A. Z. M. Shoeb and R. Ahmed (University of Rajshahi) and Sk. T. A. Siddique (BGCCI Dhaka) for their kind cooperation. The use of the Geomatics database of the Humboldt-University in Berlin was kindly permitted by the Dhaka INNOVATE project.

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  1. Institute for Geography, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Boris Braun & Tibor Aßheuer

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  1. Boris Braun
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  2. Tibor Aßheuer
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Correspondence to Boris Braun.

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Braun, B., Aßheuer, T. Floods in megacity environments: vulnerability and coping strategies of slum dwellers in Dhaka/Bangladesh. Nat Hazards 58, 771–787 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9752-5

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