Indigenous Perception, Prediction and Survival Strategies at Pre, During and Post- Disaster Phases: A Case Study of Cyclone “Sidr” Mohammad Tareq Hasan1, Mohammed Abdul Baten2 1
Unnayan Onneshan- The Innovators, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Email:
[email protected]
2
Unnayan Onneshan- The Innovators, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Email:
[email protected]
ABSTRACT: Being one of the disaster prone countries of the world, Bangladesh experiences natural calamities like cyclones, tornadoes, tidal surges, storm surges, riverbank erosion, floods and droughts every year with different frequencies. It is believed that the intensity of the calamities have increased many folds due to impacts from climate change in recent years. Of the natural disasters cyclones together with storm surge appear to be the most devastating one, especially in the coastal areas. The present study attempted to identify indigenous coping strategies at the pace of cyclones, particularly super cyclone ‘Sidr’ that ravaged 15th November, 2007 in coastal Bangladesh. The study was conducted during November, 2008 at ‘Kuakata’ of the southern Bangladesh, an area which has been the victim of many cyclones throughout the history. The indigenous perception, prediction and survival strategies were revealed through using in-depth qualitative interviews, focus group discussion and observation studies. In the study area Indigenous ‘Rakhain’ community is living along coastal belt for centuries with unique cultural identity, having close proximity with nature, have developed indigenous perception and prediction strategies for cyclones and, there by adapting to disasters without formal organizational and institutional supports. The community was found mostly ignorant to the formal preventive and survival strategies and rely upon cumulative experiences transmitted over generations. The study found evidence of community level indigenous adaptation practices such as special type of housing pattern, prediction of cyclones using the level of the sea-water, wind direction, weather etc, and also their capacity to sustain without external interventions namely government help after the cyclone hits. Their local ecological knowledge, coping and survival strategies at ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ the cyclone may have important implications to other areas along the coastal belt of Bangladesh in case of disaster management. Keywords: Bangladesh, Coping strategy, Cyclone, Disaster management, Indigenous knowledge
1. Introduction Unique geographic location coupled with climate change impacts has made Bangladesh one of the worst victims to natural disasters. Therefore, ‘living with disasters’ is a cruel reality for the people of Bangladesh. Even though majority of the country’s population experience disasters in varying degrees and form, however the coastal population are the most vulnerable and hit the hardest. Every year they are used to confront various natural disasters such as cyclones, tornadoes, tidal surges, storm surges river bank erosion and other associated impacts like salinity ingress, land erosion etc. Among the disasters cyclone is the most devastating that hit coastal belt of Bangladesh in regular intervals. Nevertheless, the frequency and intensity of cyclones have increased many folds what is evident from three consecutive cyclones (Sidr in 2007, Nargis in 2008 and Aila in 2009) that hit Bangladesh and other neighbouring country’s coastal area in last three years caused more than hundred thousands death and countless property loss. It is now beyond doubt that such increase of cyclones and other disasters is a consequence of climate change. IPCC aggress with the statement and place Bangladesh in top of the vulnerable countries list (IPCC, 2007). Albeit vulnerabilities are persistent for total population of the disaster prone coastal area, indigenous communities are suffering more because of their shear dependence on nature for life and livelihoods. Moreover, indigenous communities are living in those areas which are particularly vulnerable to the disasters. Rakhain, the only indigenous community living in the coastal region of Bangladesh, are continuing their existence over generations struggling with cyclones. Thus, they have developed their own survival strategies in face of cyclones. Given the magnitude of the adverse impacts of tropical cyclones; community perception, prediction and survival strategies to combat cyclonic disaster is a matter of utmost importance, especially in the context of Indigenous communities who have been living in the extreme vulnerable zones for quite a long time and surviving mostly without outside help. Under this backdrop, employing qualitative approach the study used both primary and secondary data to identify Rakhain’s survival strategies at the face of cyclones. Particularly, Rakhain community’s perception, predicting indicators concerning cyclones and their post-disaster coping mechanisms were explored. Primary data have been collected using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions; while secondary data were collected from reports, journals, research papers, and book
2. Cyclones and the Rakhain Almost every year Bangladesh confronts cyclones. About one tenth of the tropical cyclones occur in the Bay of Bengal and about one sixth of the cyclones developed in the Bay of Bengal that cross Bangladesh because of the conical shape of the low flat terrain (GOB, UNDP, World Bank, 1993 cf BUET, 2008). The intensity and frequency of these natural climatic hazards have increased many folds due to global climate change impacts for instance: super cyclone “Sidr” (2007) and “Aila” (2009) ravaged the coastal belt of Bangladesh in successive years. Rakhain with original homeland in Arakan (part of present-day Myanmar) now living with considerable number at coastal areas namely Coxs Bazar and Patuakhali districts of Bangladesh since 1789 (Khan, A. M, 1999:50). The current study concentrates on Patuakhali district, more specifically “Kuakata” of Latachapali unioni where a total of 700 Rakhains live in 11 parasii. Rakhains have their own building construction system that differs from mainland construction systems. Usually they construct houses on higher platform made of strong wooden logs. For several hundreds of years the Rakhains are strictly following same process to build their houses. It is assumed that Rakhains built their houses with higher platform partly to safeguard their lives from the attack of wild animals and snakes and also to sustain against geo-climatic hazards such as flood, cyclone and tidal surge. Another notable feature of their housing is that they construct several windows around the house in a way that allows the strong wind to freely pass across and ventilate without obstructions. Rakhains basically live on agriculture and fishing which increases livelihood vulnerability to a great extent as natural resource bases are mostly subject to degradation by cyclones. Because of the vulnerabilities and threats associated with cyclones they closely monitor the climatic and environmental changes which include the formation of cyclone in the deep sea. They have accumulated knowledge to perceive, predict and survive cyclones effectively, which has been passed on over generations. Interestingly, this knowledge has made them capable of surviving cyclones effectively.
3. Cyclone “Sidr” & Disaster Management During the “Sidr” Rakhains demonstrated great skills that rescue them to a large extent. This study reveals that they follow a planned strategy to reduce the loss of life and properties and it involves perceiving and prediction of cyclones, survival strategies in the during cyclone period and post cyclone coping mechanisms.
3.1 Pre-cyclone Coping mechanism As Rakhains live in the coast they have to face recurrent cyclones, through the process they have developed a unique perception and also have identified predicting indicators for a coming cyclone.
3.1.1 Indigenous Perception The Rakhains use the word Lemungrai to denote any natural calamity. The terms tulong, mundai, le mundai are commonly used to describe cyclone, tidal surge, and cyclone without tidal surge, respectively. Wind is described by li-thare; wind blowing with a high intensity is denoted by li-ben-thare. However, prefixes are also used to classify the intensity of cyclone. For examples, cyclones with low intensity and high intensity are called leingri and laeingshi, respectively. According to the traditional lunar calendar followed by the Rakhains’, there are twelve months in a year and they are as following:
Table 3.1.1: Months and Seasons in Rakhain Calendar Rakhain months
Rakhain seasons
Bangla months
English months
Tha Khungla Kachong Naeung O’cho Akhong Toslang Ajoa Tachong mong Na-ddo Pra-cho Ta-bo-the Ta-bong
Ni-radi (dry season)
Chaitro Boishak Jaistho Ashar Srabon Vadro Ashwin Kartik Agrohawan Poush Magh Falgun
March April May June July August September October November December January February
Chong-radi (Rainy season)
Mo-radi (Winter)
Most cyclone prone months Most cyclone prone
Most cyclone prone
The Rakhains believe cyclones of the late rainy season (ni-radi) and the early winter season (mo-radi) are the most devastating because of higher wind speed and bigger tidal surges. Where as, during dry season there are frequent
cyclones but of less intensity in terms of tidal surge. Rakhains explain this difference as flowing: “due to rain during rainy season rivers (penle) and sea (mraima) has more water than in dry season”. In response to the question of identifying causes of cyclones the respondents from the Rakhain community respondent with ignorant view by arguing that cyclones are created in the deep sea and it is beyond their capacity to know the actual cause. But they believe “Its all because of will of the God”. Guided by strong religious belief, most of the Bangladeshi people treat cyclone as Punishment from the Almighty (Howell 2003; Schmuck, 2000) or Doomsday or Curses of God (Hassan, 2000). Another aspect of their belief about cyclone cycle is that they believe a mighty cyclone may hit the coast after every five years because of their previous experiences on periodical cyclones those hit in 1960, 1963, 1965, and 1970 respectively. Some learned people do not rely in superstitions descriptions rather elucidate cyclones from bio-physical characteristics of the affected area as the studied area is placed to the west of the Sea. Nevertheless, majority people believe cyclone “Sidr” was a result of previous sins, which could be best illustrated by the statement of an interviewee “People are dishonest these days, they don’t have any religion, for this reasons there is drought, flood, excessive rains and at last this Sidr. If people don’t be good these will not end and we will have to suffer”
3.1.2 Indigenous Prediction Predicting indicators of cyclone depends on several factors. People do not take a single indicator to predict the cyclone. All the indicators as a whole give a definite direction. Rakhains use some indicators that are operative in their process of prediction of a cyclone are:
Table 2: Indigenous Predicting Indicators Wind Direction
acche tong da-ong (South east) : High intensity mrao acche da-ong (North east) : Low intensity
Warmth of Wind
Hot during cold season Cold during hot season
Weather condition Sound
Drizzling and gloomy sky with wind blowing from south east Huge roar of the sea is heard No sound of lightening
Appearance of cyclone
Wind blowing in circle can be seen in the deep sea from the coast
Water
Availability of fish
Increased temperature of sea and river water color of the sea and river water looks muddier Bitter taste of rain water/ salinity of rain water Water increases in the river if/when cyclone is heading towards the shore Increased
Cloud
Living Barometer
Rainbow color Rainbow shape Human with special type of disease (sufferings of the people having skin problems and breathing problems are increased) Insects (moving out of their nests and move to higher places) Fish (jumping of a certain kind of fish in the ocean, locally called “cheowa”)
3.2 During Cyclone Cooping Mechanism When the Rakhains become more or less sure about the cyclones they prepare themselves for the coming disaster. In this phase strategies are mainly focused on reducing loss of life and properties. As stated earlier, Rakhains have special type houses which give an advantage during cyclones to survive. But to protect the house from strong wind Rakhains usually keep the windows (padeng pao) open and sometimes dismantle some parts of the ceiling (a-khang) so that they can take shelter if the tidal surge is too high. Another important practice of Rakhains is to dismantle the wooden structure (prinh-khae-re) of the first floor of their house to reduce water pressure on home structure; otherwise the tidal surge may collapse the whole house due to water pressure on them.
To save the lives of the children the Rakhains tend to tie them with the logs of the house. For personal survival also they sometimes tie themselves up with some part of their house. Practically, they try to hold onto some containers (bu), broken part of trees, wood (chaipa), bamboo (‘O) to float when they falls into water.
3.3 Post Cyclone Coping Mechanism At the post cyclone stage the strategies are more concerned about surviving. These strategies are qualitatively different than the pre and during disaster period. Even though self protection instinct dominates the ‘during’ disaster phase, but group cohesiveness is dominant feature in post disaster period. To meet the need of food they mostly depend on fruits such as coconut (ung chi), banana (nabrio chi), palm fruits (thanchi) etc. It is notable, many interviewee noticed that they can survive three/four days without food grains, but it is difficult to survive without drinkable water as the water sources become contaminated and undrinkable due to intrusion of sea water. To find drinking water they have the following strategies:
Drink coconut (ung chi) water They cut and chew banana tree (Nabrio-pan) which provide them with some liquid to drink. The above mentioned techniques are mostly used so far by the people who live a bit far from the coast line. But the Rakhains who live on the coast line do not face the scarcity of drinking water because it is very easy to dig sand at the sea beach and find drinking water. They believe the sand on the sea beach works as a filter to make the sea water drinkable and which is stored under sand. This process of digging sand and finding drinking water is called redwoa. Redwoa is a special strategy that helped the Rakhain to survive in this coastal area when they first arrived here, hence, the name “Kuakata”, which means “well digging” in Bengali.
4. Conclusion Almost every year, small to medium range cyclones are formed in the Bay of Bengal and hit the landmass causing moderate damages but periodically strong cyclones associated with high tidal surges engulf the entire coastline and even sometimes approach further north. Thus, not only property loss but also death toll goes beyond any imagination. Rakhains living in the coast, apply their own survival strategies and skills to cope with the cyclones and other disasters. Cyclones have become an integral part of Rakhain’s life styles. Therefore, they take all aspects of their social, cultural and environmental circumstances into account as well as a series of risk-related factors in responding to cyclones. Thus, it is important to explore the vulnerabilities, rationale of their actions for survival and observed and potential impacts of disastrous events for effective disaster management planning and programming input at local and national level.
Endnotes i
Union is the lowest administrative unit in the rural areas of Bangladesh (for more information see URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Unions_of_Bangladesh). Latachapali union is located under the Kalapara sub-district of Pautakhali district.
ii
A para is a cluster of Rakhain households.
References BUET (2008). Field Investigation on the Impact of Cyclone Sidr in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh, Bangladesh: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Hassan, Shahed (2000). Indigenous Disaster Management Culture: A Comparative Study between the Cyclone Affected People of Bangladesh and Japan. Journal of Human Sciences 26(3): 251-263 Howell, Philippa (2003). Indigenous Early Warning Indicators of Cyclones: Potential Application in Coastal Bangladesh. Working Paper 6, Aon UCL Benfield Hazard Research Centre, London. Available online at URL: http://www.abuhrc.org/Publications/Working%20Paper%206.pdf. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007). Fourth Assessment Report (FAR) Climate Change 2007. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.: Cambridge University Press. Khan, Abdul Mabud (1999). The Maghs: A Buddhist Community in Bangladesh, Dhaka: The University Press Limited. Schmuck-Widmann, Hanna (2000). An Act of Allah: Religious Explanations for Floods in Bangladesh as Survival Strategy. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 18 (1): 85-96.
