Linking Coastal Disasters and Migration: A Case Study of Kutubdia Island, Bangladesh

Abstract

On 4 August 2012, the southeastern part of Kutubdia Island, Bangladesh, experienced coastal erosion and flooding associated with tidal waves, storms, and continuous heavy rainfall for two days. This provided a unique opportunity to study the relationship between rapid-onset disasters and migration decisions of individual households perpetually living under environmental risk. Using Kutubdia Island as a case study, this article examines the migration decisions of respondents in the immediate aftermath of two extreme natural events. Relevant data were primarily collected from a questionnaire survey conducted nearly two months after the occurrence of the event. The study's findings support the view that both environmental and nonenvironmental factors lead to migration. The article outlines several areas for further research on the links between migration and environmental stress.

2012 年八月四日, 孟加拉的古杜布迪亚岛经历了潮汐波、暴风雨和连续两天的豪雨带来的沿海侵蚀与洪泛。此一事件提供了特殊的机会, 研究快速暴发的灾难与长期居住在环境风险中的个别家户的迁徙决定之间的关联性。本文运用古杜布迪亚岛的案例研究, 检视受访者在两个极端自然灾害发生后立即做出的迁徙决定。相关数据, 主要在事件发生近两个月后, 透过问卷调查取得。研究发现, 支持环境和非环境因素同时导致迁徙的观点。本文概述未来研究迁徙和环境压力之间的连结的几类领域。

El 4 de agosto de 2012 la parte sudeste de la Isla de Kutubdia, en Bangladesh, experimentó durante dos días embates de erosión costera e inundación asociadas con marejadas, tormentas y continuas lluvias torrenciales. Esto proporcionó una oportunidad única para estudiar la relación entre desastres intempestivos y decisiones migratorias de familias individuales que perpetuamente habían vivido bajo riesgos ambientales. Tomando a la Isla de Kutubdia como estudio de caso, este artículo examina las decisiones migratorias de quienes fueron entrevistados inmediatamente después de dos eventos naturales extremos. Los datos relevantes se obtuvieron primariamente a partir de un estudio por cuestionario administrado cerca de dos meses después de ocurrido el evento. Los hallazgos del estudio respaldan la idea de que tanto factores ambientales como no ambientales generan migración. El artículo esquematiza varias áreas para adelantar más investigación sobre los vínculos entre la migración y el estrés ambiental.

Key Words::

• Bangladesh
• coastal erosion
• environmental change
• flood
• Kutubdia Island
• migration

关键词::

• 孟加拉
• 沿海侵蚀
• 环境变迁
• 洪泛
• 古杜布迪亚岛
• 迁徙。

Palabras clave::

• Bangladesh
• erosión costera
• cambio ambiental
• inundación
• Isla de Kutubdia
• migración

Notes

¹For example, 16 miles (24 km) of these embankments were severely damaged by the 1991 cyclone, which killed 22,000 residents of Kutubdia Island (Penning-Rowsell, Sultana, and Thompson 2011). It is worthwhile to mention that, based on ecological conditions, the coastal zone of Bangladesh is divided into three geographical regions: the southwest, including the mangrove forest zone of the Sundarbans; the vast estuarine zone (of the Meghna–Brahmaputra–Ganges) in the central part; and the eastern coastal lowlands or Chittagong coast (Paul 2009; Rashid and Paul 2014).

²Vidal (2013) claimed that 80,000 people have left Kutubdia since 1986.

³If all members of a household migrate due to environmental change, this can be considered “displacement” (Kartiki 2011).

⁴Upazila is the second lowest official administrative unit of local government, and the district is the top-tier official administrative unit of local governments in Bangladesh.

⁵The union is the third lowest official administrative unit of local governments in Bangladesh.

⁶For simplicity's sake, all of them will be referred to as actual or potential migrants in the remainder of the article.

⁷Rohingyas are Bengali-descent Muslims who have been living in the Arakan province of Myanmar since the fifteenth century. Since the late 1970s, many Rohingyas have been forced to migrate to Bangladesh. The Rohingya exodus was the result of Myanmar's attempts to combat Muslim guerrillas fighting for an independent homeland. Thus, for the last several decades, movement along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border has increased.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Munshi Khaledur Rahman

MUNSHI KHALEDUR RAHMAN is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include human–environment interactions, climate change, hazards and disasters, public health, application of geographic information systems, remote sensing, and Global Positioning System.

Bimal Kanti Paul

BIMAL KANTI PAUL is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include human–environment interactions, population and health geographies, geospatial analysis, and global climate change.

Andrew Curtis

ANDREW CURTIS is an Associate Professor and the Director of GIS, Health & Hazards Lab in the Department of Geography at Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include geographic information science, hazards and disasters, mapping epidemics, public health mapping, and crime mapping.

Thomas W. Schmidlin

THOMAS W. SCHMIDLIN is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include weather and climate, natural hazards and disasters, polar geography, and severe weather.