International aid and cyclone shelters in Bangladesh: adaptation or maladaptation?

Abstract

This paper examines the unintended prospect of international aid-driven maladaptation in Bangladesh. While attempts by aid agencies to channel scarce resources to finance structural adaptation measures are commendable, complementary non-structural measures remain under the radar. Using an exploratory research approach this paper investigates the state of cyclone shelters in two coastal districts: Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. The findings indicate that the lack of adequate shelter capacity, maintenance funding, and community participation has exacerbated the vulnerability of Chittagong's marginalised urban population. The paper contends that international aid can avoid being maladaptive by accentuating community-based governance and facilitating community capacity to fund the maintenance of cyclone shelters in new ways.

Keywords:

• international aid
• natural disasters
• resilience
• social capital
• urban vulnerability

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Prof. Darryn McEvoy (RMIT) and Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed (RMIT) who have commented on the earlier version of this paper during the People and the Planet 2013 Conference, as well as Prof. Robyn Keast (SCU) and Dr. Md Kamruzzaman (QUT). Many of their suggestions have been incorporated. We would like to thank the CRC for Infrastructure and Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM) and the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) Programme at Southern Cross University for the support given to us during the development of this paper. We also acknowledge and thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments were most helpful.