“Identification of Drought and Flood Induced Critical Moments and Coping Strategies in Hazard Prone Lower Teesta River Basin”
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MS “Identification of Drought and Flood Induced Critical Moments Thesis and Coping Strategies in Hazard Prone Lower Teesta River Basin” “ Identification of Drought and Flood Induced Critical Moments and Coping and Induced Critical Moments Flood and of Drought Identification Strategies in Hazard Prone Lower Teesta River Basin River Lower Teesta Prone Hazard Strategies in This thesis paper is submitted to the department of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of Rajshahi, as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MS - 2015. SUBMITTED BY Roll No. 10116087 Registration No. 2850 Session: 2014 - 15 MS Exam: 2015 ” April, 2017 Department of Geography and Sk. Junnun Sk. Al Third Science Building Environmental Studies, Faculty of Life and Earth Science - Hussain Rajshahi University Rajshahi - 6205 April, 2017 “Identification of Drought and Flood Induced Critical Moments and Coping Strategies in Hazard Prone Lower Teesta River Basin” This thesis paper is submitted to the department of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of Rajshahi, as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science - 2015. SUBMITTED BY Roll No. 10116087 Registration No. 2850 Session: 2014 - 15 MS Exam: 2015 April, 2017 Department of Geography and Third Science Building Environmental Studies, Faculty of Life and Earth Science Rajshahi University Rajshahi - 6205 Dedicated To My Family i Declaration The author does hereby declare that the research entitled “Identification of Drought and Flood Induced Critical Moments and Coping Strategies in Hazard Prone Lower Teesta River Basin” submitted to the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Rajshahi for the Degree of Master of Science is exclusively his own, authentic and original study. The author further declare that the thesis or any part of it at any form, has not been submitted to any other university or institute for any degree, diploma or for other similar purposes. Author ii Department of Geography & f~‡Mvj I cwi‡ekwe`¨v wefvM Environmental Studies ivRkvnxwek¦we`¨vjq University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, ivRkvnx-6205, Bangladesh evsjv‡`k. www.ru.ac.bd Certificate I have the pleasure to certify that the research entitled “Identification of Drought and Flood Induced Critical Moments and Coping Strategies in Hazard Prone Lower Teesta River Basin” is the original work of Sk. Junnun Al - Hussain. As far as I know this is the candidate‘s own achievement and is not a conjoint work. He has completed this research under my direct guidance and supervision. I also certify that the research is too satisfactory for submission to the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Rajshahi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Supervisor Co-Supervisor …………………………………. Dr. Shitangsu Kumar Paul Dr. Md Abu Syed Professor Fellow and Co-principle Department of Geography and Investigator of HI-AWARE Environmental Studies Bangladesh Centre for University of Rajshahi Advanced Studies (BCAS) Rajshahi- 6205, Dhaka- 1212, Bangladesh Bangladesh iii Acknowledgement I wish to express my deep gratitude and sincere thanks to the various individuals and institutions that provided the necessary assistance and made this research a reality. First of all, I would take the opportunity to extend my profound gratitude and thanks to the supervisor of my thesis Dr. Shitangsu Kumar Paul, Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Rajshahi and Dr. Md Abu Syed, Fellow and Co- principle Investigator of HI-AWARE, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) for their continuous guidance and support. During the whole work I always inspired to be more creative in doing the research. Without their untiring, devotion and suggestion it would not be possible for me to complete the research and to give it to the present form. Moreover, I am also grateful to my supervisor and co-supervisor for their supervision, valuable implication, advices, criticism and guiding in planning, execution and reporting of this research. I am indebted to Professor Dr. Md. Shamsul Alam, Professor Dr. M. Mizanur Rahman, Professor Dr. Abu Hanif Sheikh, Professor Dr. AZM Shoeb, Professor Dr. Jahan Boksh Morol and Professor Dr. Masud Parvez Rana Department of Geography and Environmental Studies who have helped me in many ways. I am greatly thankful to the whole HI-AWARE team and Ph.D. fellow of IBS Susanto Roy for his support. I also wish to acknowledge the help of various officials of government and non-government agencies who provided useful information for this research. Special thanks to the local residents and village headman who were very kindly cooperative in fulfill the information for the study. At the end, I wish to pay my respect to all of them who have helped me to conduct this research. I apologize to them, whose names are not mentioned here. Finally, thanks to the Almighty for every success. iv Abstract In north-western part of Bangladesh in lower Teesta basin area, people repeatedly confronted by natural catastrophe almost every year such as drought and flood. After the construction of two barrages in Gozaldoba and Dalia on Teesta river drought and flood occurs almost every year. Intensity and frequency of these calamities are also increasing in an alarming rate, which caused serious damage to livelihoods and economy of this area. Both the study villages Charkharibari and Jigabari are located in lower Teesta basin area which is equally drought and flood area. Charkharibari village is situated on Charland that is located on the right bank of upstream of lower Teesta River. Jigabari village is situated on inland that is located on the left bank of downstream of lower Teesta River. Between the two villages severity of drought and flood is higher in Charkharibari village. Assessment of agricultural critical moment shows, in both study areas drought affects directly the production of Boro (HYV), Potato, Maize and Onion. It extends from mid-January to February consists of 25-30 days of dry spell. The main problem of this critical period is acute scarcity of water. Local level farmers try to cope with this problem during critical stage by pumping water from the nearby river by using shallow machines. In both study areas flood affects directly the production of Ground-Nut and T.Aus. This period falls in Monsoon. Type of coping strategy for stagnant water is selling crop in advance and sometimes no coping capacity. Assessment of pecuniary critical moment shows, in both study areas drought affects directly the income sector of livelihood and other related sub-sectors with almost same intensity. In both Charkharibari and Jigabari village drought induced pecuniary critical moments extends from late- January to late-March consists of 45-60 days of dry spell. The main problems of this critical period are lack of agro-based work, acute financial crisis and acute unemployment. Local inhabitants try to cope with these problems during critical stage by temporary migration, borrowing loan, wage earning, by selling properties, by getting debit and by selling labor in advance. Flood induced pecuniary critical moments extends from early-July to mid-August consists of 5-30 days of flood stagnant water. In both Charkharibari and Jigabari village drought induced nutritional critical moments extends from late-January to early-March consists of 30-45 days of dry spell. The main problems of this critical period are lack of cereal, lack of cooking materials and acute food shortage. Local inhabitants try to cope with these problems during critical stage by change in number of main meal intake, borrowing loan to buy food grain, borrowing food from other household, selling properties and borrowing food from shop by debit. Flood induced nutritional critical moments extends from early-July to mid-August consists of 25-30 days of during and after flood stagnant water. In both Charkharibari and Jigabari village drought induced aquatic critical moments extends from late-January to mid-March consists of 45-60 days of dry spell. The main problems of this critical period are acute shortage of drinking water, scarcity of daily use water. Local inhabitants try to cope with these problems during critical stage by drinking unhygienic water from river, lessening their water usage. Flood induced aquatic critical moments extends from early-July to mid-August consists of 10-20 days. In both Charkharibari and Jigabari village drought induced health critical moments extends from late- January to late-March consists of 45-60 days of dry spell. The main problems of this critical period are pox, black fever, skin disease, jaundice, women’s’ menstrual related problems and heat stroke. Local inhabitants try to cope with these problems during critical stage by managing somewhat medical facility that is available to them. In both Charkharibari and Jigabari village flood induced health critical moments extends from early-July to mid-August consists of 25-30 days of during and after flood stagnant water. Flood induced health critical moments extends from early-July to mid- August consists of 25-30 days of during and after flood stagnant water. Assessment of drought and flood induced critical moments and their coping capacities show that Charkharibari village has more problems but less coping capacities than Jigabari village. And coping capacity against these critical periods are highly influenced by income, occupation, education, frequency and duration