ORCID Profile
0000-0001-7303-9625
Current Organisation
Rabdan Academy
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2021
DOI: 10.2147/RMHP.S327881
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2021
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 06-03-2023
DOI: 10.3390/SU15054647
Abstract: Understanding the complex dynamics of landslides is crucial for disaster planners to make timely and effective decisions that save lives and reduce the economic impact on society. Using the landslide inventory of the Chittagong Metropolitan Area (CMA), we have created a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based insight system for the town planners and senior disaster recovery strategists of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Our system generates dynamic AI-based insights for a range of complex scenarios created from 7 different landslide feature attributes. The users of our system can select a particular kind of scenario out of the exhaustive list of 1.054 × 1041 possible scenario sets, and our AI-based system will immediately predict how many casualties are likely to occur based on the selected kind of scenario. Moreover, an AI-based system shows how landslide attributes (e.g., rainfall, area of mass, elevation, etc.) correlate with landslide casualty by drawing detailed trend lines by performing both linear and logistic regressions. According to the literature and the best of our knowledge, our CMA scenario-based AI insight system is the first of its kind, providing the most comprehensive understanding of landslide scenarios and associated deaths and damages in the CMA. The system was deployed on a wide range of platforms including Android, iOS, and Windows systems so that it could be easily adapted for strategic disaster planners. The deployed solutions were handed down to 12 landslide strategists and disaster planners for evaluations, whereby 91.67% of users found the solution easy to use, effective, and self-explanatory while using it via mobile.
Publisher: Sciencedomain International
Date: 10-01-2017
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-02-2022
DOI: 10.3390/SU14042348
Abstract: Bangladesh is a riverine country that is the most climate-change-vulnerable country in the world. Riverbank erosion adversely affects people and their livelihoods by damaging their homesteads, agricultural land, and causing economic, social, and psychological distress over time. Under these criteria, erosion control measures/approaches are vital for protecting erosion and crating livelihoods resilient. This study intends to assess riverbank erosion and livelihood resilience using traditional erosion control approaches by observing and surveying 118 riverine households in Rowmari, northern Bangladesh. The results show that riverbank erosion enormously damages household lands, socio-economic conditions, livelihoods, and resources, resulting in increased vulnerability. About 54.2% of the households utilize traditional approaches known as bundlings and 33.1% use both bundlings + bank vegetation that helps them resist erosion. Traditional erosion management approaches enhance resilience by safeguarding agricultural land, crop fields, production, and homesteads rapidly and sustainably, and by reducing damage to infrastructure, roads, embankments and transportation in the region. A probit model was also employed to explore factors that have influenced traditional erosion approaches. The factors such as age, education, family size, erosion experience, occupation, earning members, and farm size were meaningfully related to taking traditional erosion approaches. It is expected that the outcomes of the present research will help guide governmental agencies and policymakers and contribute to the construction of a sustainable riverbank erosion action framework in Bangladesh and other regions with similar problems.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 17-08-2023
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-2643549/V1
Abstract: Bangladesh’s success in disaster risk management is often evidenced by referencing the reduction of deaths by tropical cyclones ࣧ the Cyclone Gorky 1991 took 147,000 deaths, the Cyclone Sidr 2007 took 4500 deaths and only 6 deaths by the Cyclone Mora in 2017. This raises questions of how deaths occurred by tropical cyclones in the past and what factors contributed to the reduction in deaths in the last two decades? This study answers this question by face-to-face interviews with 362 residents, field visits and observations in coastal Bangladesh. The findings indicate that there have been improvements in house structures and design, warning responses and evacuation to public cyclone shelters and informal cyclone shelter centres. In the past, due to a lack of built infrastructure, strong residential houses and public cyclone shelters, deaths occurred whilst living in fragile houses attempting to survive through holding trees and floating in storm surges. The top ten factors that may still cause deaths by tropical cyclones include: (1) Living in fragile houses along the coast without embankment (2) the repeat of a 1991-like cyclone (3) non-evacuation following early warning (4) poor roads in remote areas (5) distance to and insufficient number of public cyclone shelters (6) lack of protective measures for the rising number of elderly and disabled people (7) community’s unawareness (8) communication failure during the disaster period (9) failure to evacuate people from remote locations and (10) Poor radio signal and mobile network problems resulting in no warning information. This study provides several key recommendations addressing these factors of deaths, to be implemented by in idual, community, private sectors, non-government organisations (NGOs) and public sectors on coastal Bangladesh.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 06-08-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.08.04.20168351
Abstract: Bangladesh is going through an unprecedented crisis since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the reproduction number of COVID-19 swarmed in the scientific community and public media due to its simplicity in explaining an infectious disease dynamic. This paper aims to estimate the effective reproduction number (Rt) for COVID-19 over time in Bangladesh and its districts using reported cases. Adapted methods derived from Bettencourt and Ribeiro (2008), which is a sequential Bayesian approach using the compartmental Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) model, have been used to estimate Rt. As of July 21, the mean Rt is 1.32(0.98-1.70, 90% HDI), with a median of 1.16(0.99-1.34 90% HDI). The initial Rt of Bangladesh was 3, whereas the Rt on the day of imposing nation-wide lockdown was 1.47, at the end of lockdown phase 1 was 1.06, at the end of lockdown phase 2 was 1.33. Each phase of nation-wide lockdown has contributed to the decline of effective reproduction number (Rt) for Bangladesh by 28.44%, and 26.70%, respectively, implying moderate effectiveness of the epidemic response strategies. The mean Rt fell by 13.55% from May 31 to July 21, 2020, despite easing of lockdown in Bangladesh. The Rt continued to fall below the threshold value one steadily from the beginning of July and sustained around 1. The mean Rt fell by 13.55% from May 31 to July 21, 2020, despite easing of lockdown in Bangladesh. As of July 21, the current estimate of Rt is 1.07(0.92-1.15: 90% HDI), meaning that an infected in idual is spreading the virus to an average of one other, with 0.07 added chance of infecting a second in idual. This whole research recommends two things- broader testing and careful calibration of measures to keep Rt a long way below the crucial threshold one. As of July 21, the mean Rt and growth factor is 1.32 and 1.02, respectively. Each phase of nation-wide lockdown has contributed to the decline of effective reproduction number (Rt) for Bangladesh by 28.44%, and 26.70%, respectively, implying moderate effectiveness of the epidemic response strategies. The Rt of Bangladesh was below 1 for only 20 days, which was observed during May 24- 25, June 19-21, from June 30 to July 6, July 9-12, and July 16-19,2020. The initial Rt of Bangladesh was 3, whereas the Rt on the day of imposing nation-wide lockdown was 1.47, at the end of lockdown phase-1 was 1.06, at the end of lockdown phase-2 was 1.33. The mean Rt fell by 13.55% from May 31 to July 21, 2020, despite easing of lockdown in Bangladesh. The Rt continued to fall below the threshold value one steadily from the beginning of July and sustained around one. We suspect that a low testing rate may influence the constant decline of Rt below threshold value 1 in the course of July. The mean Rt fell by 13.55% from May 31 to July 21, 2020, despite easing of lockdown in Bangladesh. As of July 21, the current estimate of Rt is 1.07(0.92-1.15: 90% HDI), meaning that an infected in idual is spreading the virus to an average of one other, with 0.07 added chance of infecting a second in idual.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-01-2022
DOI: 10.3390/CLI10010003
Abstract: Urbanization is closely associated with land use land cover (LULC) changes that correspond to land surface temperature (LST) variation and urban heat island (UHI) intensity. Major districts of Bangladesh have a large population base and commonly lack the resources to manage fast urbanization effects, so any rise in urban temperature influences the population both directly and indirectly. However, little is known about the impact of rapid urbanization on UHI intensity variations during the winter dry period in the major districts of Bangladesh. To this end, we aim to quantify spatiotemporal associations of UHI intensity during the winter period between 2000 and 2019 using remote-sensing and geo-spatial tools. Landsat-8 and Landsat-5 imageries of these major districts during the dry winter period from 2000 to 2020 were used for this purpose, with overall precision varying from 81% to 93%. The results of LULC classification and LST estimation showed the existence of multiple UHIs in all major districts, which showed upward trends, except for the Rajshahi and Rangpur districts. A substantial increase in urban expansion was observed in Barisal 32%, Mymensingh 18%, Dhaka 17%, Chattogram 14%, and Rangpur 13%, while a significant decrease in built-up areas was noticed in Sylhet −1.45% and Rajshahi −3.72%. We found that large districts have greater UHIs than small districts. High UHI intensities were observed in Mymensingh 10 °C, Chattogram 9 °C, and Barisal 8 °C compared to other districts due to dense population and unplanned urbanization. We identified higher LST (hotspots) zones in all districts to be increased with the urban expansion and bare land. The suburbanized strategy should prioritize the restraint of the high intensity of UHIs. A heterogeneous increase in UHI intensity over all seven districts was found, which might have potential implications for regional climate change. Our study findings will enable policymakers to reduce UHI and the climate change effect in the concerned districts.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 17-08-2023
DOI: 10.3389/FENVS.2023.1151320
Abstract: Deforestation is the accelerating factor of climate change in developing countries. The German Watch Report 2020 had rated Pakistan number seventh most affected country due to adverse impacts of climate change. The problem of deforestation poses an existential danger to the forest-depleted country. It is of utmost importance to predict the main drivers to control deforestation. This study was conducted from October 2021 to August 2022 in dry temperate forests of the Chilas to investigate the current condition, causes of deforestation, and predicted the main drivers by using a binary regression model. Stratified random s ling techniques and fixed area plot method were used and taken ground measurements during field inventory to access current situation of deforestation. While a non-probability quota s ling technique and semi-structured questionnaire were utilized for the determination of main drivers of deforestation through respondent’s survey. The forest inventory result showed that most trees fall in immature and sub-mature (mainly in 10–20 and 20–30 cm) diameter classes while the binary logistic regression model predicted dominating four primary drivers (unsustainable fuel wood extraction, unsustainable timber extraction and urban crawling and rural expansion/habituation, and free and uncontrolled livestock grazing) and one secondary driver (wood for energy needs). To address the underlying causes of deforestation, the government must supply alternate energy sources, as well as other economic possibilities to reduce dependency on forests.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 06-01-2023
DOI: 10.3389/FENVS.2022.1074974
Abstract: Temperature rise is a concern for future agriculture in different regions of the globe. This study aimed to reveal the future changes and variabilities in minimum temperature (Tmin) and maximum temperature (Tmax) in the monthly, seasonal, and annual scale over Bangladesh using 40 General Circulation Models (GCMs) of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) for two radiative concentration pathways (RCPs, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The statistical downscaling climate model (SimCLIM) was used for downscaling and to ensemble temperature projections (Tmax and Tmin) for the near (2021–2060) and far (2071–2100) periods compared to the base period (1986–2005). Multi-model ensemble (MME) exhibited increasing Tmax and Tmin for all the timescales for all future periods and RCPs. Sen’s slope (SS) analysis showed the highest increase in Tmax and Tmin in February and relatively less increase in July and August. The mean annual Tmax over Bangladesh would increase by 0.61°C and 1.75°C in the near future and 0.91°C and 3.85°C in the far future, while the mean annual Tmin would rise by 0.65°C and 1.85°C in the near future and 0.96°C and 4.07°C in the far future, for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The northern and northwestern parts of the country would experience the highest rise in Tmax and Tmin, which have traditionally been exposed to temperature extremes. In contrast, the southeastern coastal region would experience the least rise in temperature. A higher increase in Tmin than Tmax was detected for all timescales, signifying a future decrease in the diurnal temperature range (DTR). The highest increase in Tmax and Tmin will be in winter compared to other seasons for both the periods and RCPs. The spatial variability of Tmax and Tmin changes can be useful for the long-term planning of the country.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 05-08-2020
DOI: 10.3390/SU12166305
Abstract: Over the last thirty years, Bangladesh has been experiencing hill cutting problems and subsequent landslide occurrence in its southeastern hilly region. Since 2000, landslides have caused over 500 deaths, mostly in informal settlements in southeast Bangladesh. The most significant single event was the 2007 landslide causing 127 deaths in Chittagong’s informal settlements. The landslide events took over 110 people in Rangamati on 12 June 2017. In the scenario of rising deaths by landslides in the southeastern region, this research aimed to understand communities’ landslide hazard knowledge, reasons for living in at-risk areas, risk perception and preparedness. This research applied both quantitative (i.e., structural questionnaire) and qualitative (i.e., semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire and informal interviews) data collection techniques to assess hill-top and hill-side dwellers knowledge, risk perception and preparedness to landslides in southeast Bangladesh. The investigation conducted face-to-face interviews with 208 community members, 15 key informant interviews, three Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and field observations and visits in southeast Bangladesh. The findings suggest that unplanned development activities, overpopulation, settlement along hill slopes and ineffective disaster risk reduction efforts are the anthropogenic contributories accompanying climate-change induced increased torrential rainfall are the main reasons for the increase of landslide occurrence. The results suggest that community members perceive a low-risk for landslides, despite the community’s location in high-risk areas. The community’s perception of low risk results in a lack of preparedness and an unwillingness to relocate a comparatively safer place. It was noted that landslide disaster preparation depends on the communities’ development maturity, house ownership, ethnicity, gender and economic status of the residents. It is suggested that the place of relocation for residents living in the high-risk areas should be selected with full consideration of psychosocial aspects of the community, particularly providing acceptable livelihood options.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 28-03-2022
Abstract: Dhaka has become the worst affected city in Bangladesh regarding dengue fever (DF). A large number of university students are residing in this city with a high DF risk. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the DF status and responses among these students through their Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) survey. A total of 625 students participated in an online self-reported survey. Statistical analyses were performed to assess the status and KAP regarding DF. University students from the city perceived their living places as moderately safe (45.28%) against DF, whereas about 20% reported their DF infection history. Some of these students had exemplary DF knowledge (66.72%), attitude (89.28%), and practices (68.32%). However, many of them were also observed with a lack of knowledge about this disease’s infectious behavior, recognizing Aedes mosquito breeding sites, multiple infection cases, and the risk of DF viral infection during pregnancy. Fair correlations (p 0.001) were determined in the KAP domain. Gender, residential unit, major, and dengue-relevant subjects were found to be significant predictors (p 0.05) of KAP level in the univariate analysis. Major subject and residential units remained significant predictors of overall KAP level in further multiple analysis. This study revealed the urgency of infectious disease-related subjects and the relevant demonstration into the university curriculum. The study’s findings can assist the university, government and non-governmental organizations, and the health and social workers to prepare a comprehensive dengue response and preparedness plan.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 27-02-2022
Abstract: Recent advancements in mHealth apps and services have played a vital role in strengthening healthcare services and enabling their accessibility to marginalized people. With the alarming rise in COVID-19 infection rates around the world, there appears to be an urgent call to modernize traditional medical practices to combat the pandemic. This study aims to investigate the key factors influencing the trialability of mHealth apps/services and behavioral intention to adopt mobile health applications. The study also examines the moderating effects of self-discipline motivation, knowledge, and attitude on the relationship between trialability and behavioral intention to use. The deductive reasoning approach was followed in a positivism paradigm. The study used convenience s ling and collected responses from 280 Generation Y participants in Bangladesh. Partial least square-based structural equation modeling was employed. The results revealed that relative advantage (β = 0.229, p 0.05), compatibility (β = 0.232, p 0.05), complexity (β = −0.411, p 0.05), and observability (β = 0.235, p 0.05) of mHealth apps influence the trialability of mHealth apps and services among users. Trialability compatibility (β = 0.425, p 0.05) of mHealth was positively related to the behavioral intention to use these mobile apps. The study found no moderating effects of attitude (β = 0.043, p 0.05) or self-discipline motivation (β = −0.007, p 0.05) on the hypothesized relationships. The empirical findings of this study may facilitate the development, design process, and implementation of mHealth applications with improved features that can lead to high user acceptance among Generation Y during future health crises.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-03-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11069-022-05302-1
Abstract: Assessing vulnerability is vital for developing new strategies and improving the existing ones to fulfill contemporary demands toward achieving a disaster-resilient society. Dammar Char is situated in the southeastern (SE) coastal region of Bangladesh that has experienced frequent coastal hazards and disasters throughout the year. The present study has constructed a vulnerability index utilizing the quantitative and qualitative data based on household surveys to evaluate the vulnerability of the people and community of Dammar Char. Data were collected from 180 respondents during November–December 2018. The results demonstrate that, on average, the people living in the studied area have a high vulnerability (value of the vulnerability index 0.7015) to coastal hazards and disasters. The vulnerability level differs from in idual to in idual based on their gender, educational status, financial capacity, structural strength of houses, perception of the respective hazards and disasters, etc. Females have experienced more vulnerability than their adult male counterparts. The natural vulnerability was higher than socioeconomic and physical vulnerability due to the increase in unpredictable extreme climate-induced coastal events. To combat the adverse impacts of coastal hazards and disasters, the local Dammar Char inhabitants have adopted several adaptation measures. The adapted measures are homestead gardening, working in seasonal day labor, fish drying, rearing sheep, and ducks, constructing plinths for elevating the floor of the house, extensive banana cultivation, and storage of dry foods to reduce their vulnerability.
Publisher: OMICS Publishing Group
Date: 2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2012
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-01-2023
DOI: 10.1186/S12961-023-00963-1
Abstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a pandemic within a matter of months. Analysing the first year of the pandemic, data and surveillance gaps have subsequently surfaced. Yet, policy decisions and public trust in their country’s strategies in combating COVID-19 rely on case numbers, death numbers and other unfamiliar metrics. There are many limitations on COVID-19 case counts internationally, which make cross-country comparisons of raw data and policy responses difficult. This paper presents and describes steps in the testing and reporting process, with ex les from a number of countries of barriers encountered in each step, all of which create an undercount of COVID-19 cases. This work raises factors to consider in COVID-19 data and provides recommendations to inform the current situation with COVID-19 as well as issues to be aware of in future pandemics.
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2018
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 12-10-2023
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 31-08-2022
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-08-2022
DOI: 10.3390/SU14169830
Abstract: Tropical cyclones take precious lives, damage critical infrastructure, and cause economic losses worth billions of dollars in Australia. To reduce the detrimental effect of cyclones, a comprehensive understanding of cyclones using artificial intelligence (AI) is crucial. Although event records on Australian tropical cyclones have been documented over the last 4 decades, deep learning studies on these events have not been reported. This paper presents automated AI-based regression, anomaly detection, and clustering techniques on the largest available cyclone repository covering 28,713 records with almost 80 cyclone-related parameters from 17 January 1907 to 11 May 2022. Experimentation with both linear and logistic regression on this dataset resulted in 33 critical insights on factors influencing the central pressure of cyclones. Moreover, automated clustering determined four different clusters highlighting the conditions for low central pressure. Anomaly detection at 70% sensitivity identified 12 anomalies and explained the root causes of these anomalies. This study also projected parameterization and fine-tuning of AI-algorithms at different sensitivity levels. Most importantly, we mathematically evaluated robustness by supporting an enormous scenario space of 4.737 × 108234. A disaster strategist or researcher can use the deployed system in iOS, Android, or Windows platforms to make evidence-based policy decisions on Australian tropical cyclones.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 28-10-2021
DOI: 10.3390/SU132111922
Abstract: Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries on the globe. The country is frequently affected by numerous climatic events including floods, droughts, cyclones, etc., which damages the farm household’s livelihood and socio-economic condition. Therefore, this work intends to appraise the smallholder farmers’ perceived climate-related risk, impact, and the factors that influence their choices of adaptation strategies to cope with the adverse impact of the climatic extreme events in northern Bangladesh. Survey data were collected from 300 respondents from two drought-prone districts of northern Bangladesh in January–February 2020. The climate-related risk perception index (CRRPI) was constructed to assess the farmers’ perceived risk. The multinominal logit (MNL) model was employed to explore the factors influencing farmers’ choices of adaptation strategies. Farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk were found to be consistent with meteorological data in the research area. Results of the CRRPI revealed that flood, drought, riverbank erosion, and heat waves were the critical risks perceived by the farmers. Farmers used a variety of adaptation measures to deal with these climatic threats, including agricultural ersification, changes in fertilizer and insecticides, and crop and seed changes. The MNL model results showed that the factors that influenced a farmer’s choices of adaptation strategies were age, education level, family members, income level, year of farming experience, and the farmer’s information on climate change. This study also demonstrated that water scarcity in the dry period and the frequency of crop diseases were the major limiting factors experienced by the farmers whilst undertaking adaptation strategies. Thus, awareness and capacity building through training and support to adopt the adaptation strategies are essential to enhance the resilience of the farmers.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-05-2015
DOI: 10.1002/JOC.4035
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.3390/SU14010448
Abstract: Despite the significant number of fatalities and injuries, there is currently a lack of data on public knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding lightning in Bangladesh. This study aims to assess the public’s knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) towards lightning in the country. A total of 1641 in iduals participated in an online KAP survey. Where appropriate, the Kruskal–Wallis or Mann–Whitney U test, Spearman’s rank correlation, and logistic regression models were performed. About 65% of the survey population reported frequent lightning most (72.64%) did not receive any warning messages, and small proportions (22.12%) had lightning safety precautions. In iduals with numerous lightning experiences perceived considerably unsafe places against lightning compared to infrequent lightning experiences (p 0.05). Respondents reported good knowledge (56.06%), positive attitudes (82.27%), and good preventive practices (72.33%). The logistic regression demonstrated that having good knowledge and positive attitudes can help people practice lightning safety. Females demonstrated better lightning attitudes and practices compared to males. In comparison to urban residents, rural residents had poor practices. In addition, in iduals’ educational levels might also play a crucial role in preparing them for lightning. Overall, extensive lightning c aign activities combined with effective education are required for the behavioral changes in this lightning-vulnerable society.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 19-11-2022
DOI: 10.3390/SU142215399
Abstract: The aim of this study is to address a gap in the literature associated with the influence of demographic characteristics of personnel working in disaster risk management on the organisational level of preparedness in this field. The study further aims to identify the impact of human, organisational, technological, coordination and environmental factors on the level of readiness in Saudi Arabia in dealing with crises and disasters. The case study applied a purposeful s ling approach in collecting 550 questionnaires from representatives of five geographical regions, 20 government organisations comprising 13 administrative regions. The study tested two hypotheses with the single-variance analysis test (P) performed for each stage (level) of the readiness of the relevant government departments inclusive of the demographics—age, education, position/job title, academic specialisation, number of disaster risk management related short courses completed and residential region of the study members. The findings suggest the influence of disaster management short course education and the region in which the respondent is located impacted significantly on the level of crisis and disaster organisational preparedness. Lesser impact on level of readiness for dealing with crises and disasters was identified for demographics of age, education level, position held and academic specialisation. Further, in the second area of the study findings indicate minimal variation in the impact of human, organisational, technological, coordination and environmental factors on the readiness of government departments in all phases of disaster risk management with all factors trending neutral and consistent with the weighed response averages.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-06-2010
DOI: 10.1111/J.1467-7717.2010.01176.X
Abstract: For generations, cyclones and tidal surges have frequently devastated lives and property in coastal and island Bangladesh. This study explores vulnerability to cyclone hazards using first-hand coping recollections from prior to, during and after these events. Qualitative field data suggest that, beyond extreme cyclone forces, localised vulnerability is defined in terms of response processes, infrastructure, socially uneven exposure, settlement development patterns, and livelihoods. Prior to cyclones, religious activities increase and people try to save food and valuable possessions. Those in dispersed settlements who fail to reach cyclone shelters take refuge in thatched-roof houses and big-branch trees. However, women and children are affected more despite the modification of traditional hierarchies during cyclone periods. Instinctive survival strategies and intra-community cooperation improve coping post cyclone. This study recommends that disaster reduction programmes encourage cyclone mitigation while being aware of localised realities, endogenous risk analyses, and coping and adaptation of affected communities (as active survivors rather than helpless victims).
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 19-02-2022
Abstract: Despite the public health concern, there is a dearth of research regarding perceived noise pollution and noise-related health status in Bangladesh. This study was carried out to evaluate the noise-related health status among Bangladesh’s adult population. 1386 adult Bangladeshis participated in an online survey. A linear regression model was used to evaluate overall noise-related health status determinants. 91% of the survey population reported noisy environments in their neighborhood, with the majority reporting two types (34%) of noise pollution sources. Road vehicles (38%) and construction activities (24%) were identified as significant source of noise pollution. The Bangladeshis are primarily exposed to noise during school and office hours. Socio-demographic information, perceived noise pollution and in idual views towards noise pollution were examined as determinants of noise-related health problems. Females were found to be more impacted than males, and young people also expressed concern about noise pollution’s influence. Residents in mixed-unit buildings exhibited a significant level of noise-related health problems such as deafness, insomnia, heart disease, headache, stress, poor concentration, production loss, fatigue, irritability, heartburn, indigestion, ulcers, and high blood pressure. Noise pollution from road vehicles and industry has been shown to have a negative effect on people’s health. In iduals affected by noise were interested in noise reduction efforts. The findings of this research may aid in the improvement of international, national, and local noise control efforts.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 03-02-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FPUBH.2021.783726
Abstract: Community confidence in institutional approaches to emergency management directs how they cooperate and comply with public policy responses. In the context of emerging COVID-19 pandemic risk management, this study aims to assess public confidence in the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and private sector entities for the activities undertaken during preparedness, prevention, and response phases. A survey was conducted with 307 respondents who willingly took part in the study. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess the internal reliability and the Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to estimate the mean score difference between the observations. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied in the study. The findings suggest that the participants were highly positive about the GoB efforts to organize and provide PPE for doctors in time as a safeguard against COVID-19 and coordination and informed decision making in relation to facing COVID-19. Overall, the participants showed a lower-level confidence in the preparedness and response measures taken by authorities in Bangladesh. The results explored how the GoB failed to reach the public satisfaction level regarding provision of food and financial support to low income and middle income people. A lack of collaboration and coordination among different inter-GoB and private sectors makes mitigation and recovery process difficult. This research provides a set of policy recommendations for future public health emergency management based on the participants' concerns and suggestions, and a review of consequences of policy responses in the early stage.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-09-2014
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 09-05-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2023
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 04-2022
Abstract: Abstract. Understanding the complex dynamics of landslides is crucial for disaster planners to make timely and effective decision that saves lives and reduces the economic impact on society. Using the landslide inventory of Chittagong Metropolitan Area (CMA), we created a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) based insight system for the town planners and senior disaster recovery strategists of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Our system generates dynamic AI-based insights for a range of complex scenarios created from 7 different landslide feature attributes. The users of our system can select a particular kind of scenario out of the exhaustive list of 1.054X1041 possible scenario sets and our AI-based system will immediately predict how many casualties are likely to occur based on the selected kind of scenario. Moreover, an AI-based system shows how landslide attributes (e.g., rainfall, area of mass, elevation, etc.) correlate with landslide casualty by drawing detailed trend lines performing both linear and logistic regressions. According to literature and the best of our knowledge, our CMA scenario-based AI insight system is the first of its kind providing the most comprehensive understanding of landslide scenarios and associated deaths and damages in CMA. The system was deployed on a wide range of platforms including Android, iOS, and Windows systems so that it could be easily adapted to strategic disaster planners. The deployed solutions were handed down to 12 landslide strategists and disaster planners for evaluations whereby 91.67 % of users found the solution easy to use, effective and self-explanatory while using via mobile.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-02-2016
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-04-2022
Abstract: Global evaluations of response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Clinical Practice (a network of 12,942 clinicians from 151 countries), and the Global Response to Infections Disease have consistently rated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as one of the most effective medical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In parallel, according to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, public trust in the UAE government is 81%—a leading score in the Middle East. While widespread miscommunication rumours, and lack of coordination was observed in the early phases of COVID-19 globally, the UAE case demonstrates a comprehensive positive approach and experience. The research reported in this paper aimed to understand the role of media in the police response in relation to COVID-19 risk management in the UAE. Content analysis of documentary and data sources was conducted from public COVID-19-related meta-data sources. The findings suggest pre-defined conducive legislative and institutional structure, professionalism of media and police, and collaborative approaches among implementing agencies contributed to the success of the early phase COVID-19 risk management in the UAE. This research contributes to the body of knowledge in pandemic and infodemic risk management through analysis of the UAE experience.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 23-11-2021
DOI: 10.3390/CLI9120167
Abstract: The implementation of sustainable adaptation strategies (SASs) is crucial to mitigate climate change impact as well as reduce the loss of natural disasters and increase agricultural crop production. However, current policies and programs based on agricultural incentives are mostly inadequate to increase SASs practices at the farm level. Hence, a deeper understanding of farmers’ ‘perceived typologies to the environmental issue and climate change’ is necessary for implementing SASs to enhance farmers’ ability to adapt at the farm level. This research intends to demarcate farmers in various categories, according to their perceptions on environmental and climate change issues in the northern part of Bangladesh. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were employed to analyze the survey data collected from 501 households in the study area. Farmers were clustered into three types, ‘Ecocentric’, ‘Worried’, and ‘Anthropocentric’, based on their perceived knowledge regarding environmental issues and climate change, which guides the adoption of SASs. The ‘Worried’ cluster showed a high sense of perceived risk of climate change and a significant positive association with the adoption of SASs. By contrast, ‘Ecocentric’ and ‘Anthropocentric’ groups showed a low sense of awareness of climate change and a significant negative association with the adoption of SASs. The findings can assist policymakers in promoting the adoption of SASs based on the farmers’ cluster and thus enhance their resilience.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 22-05-2022
DOI: 10.3390/SU14106303
Abstract: Tropical cyclones devastate large areas, take numerous lives and damage extensive property in Bangladesh. Research on landfalling tropical cyclones affecting Bangladesh has primarily focused on events occurring since AD1960 with limited work examining earlier historical records. We rectify this gap by developing a new Tornado catalogue that include present and past records of Tornados across Bangladesh maximizing use of available sources. Within this new Tornado database, 119 records were captured starting from 1838 till 2020 causing 8735 deaths and 97,868 injuries leaving more than 102,776 people affected in total. Moreover, using this new Tornado data, we developed an end-to-end system that allows a user to explore and analyze the full range of Tornado data on multiple scenarios. The user of this new system can select a date range or search a particular location, and then, all the Tornado information along with Artificial Intelligence (AI) based insights within that selected scope would be dynamically presented in a range of devices including iOS, Android, and Windows. Using a set of interactive maps, charts, graphs, and visualizations the user would have a comprehensive understanding of the historical records of Tornados, Cyclones and associated landfalls with detailed data distributions and statistics.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2019
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 25-04-2023
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 21-02-2022
DOI: 10.1108/IJCCSM-02-2021-0019
Abstract: The small-scale artisanal fishers in coastal Bangladesh are comparatively more vulnerable to climate risks than any other communities in Bangladesh. Based on practicality, this paper aims to explain the local level climate change perception, its impact and adaptation strategies of the fisher in southeast coastal villages in Bangladesh. To achieve the above objective, this study used structural, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussion in two coastal communities, namely, at Salimpur in the Sitakund coast and Sarikait Sandwip Island, Bangladesh. It reviews and applies secondary data sources to compare and contrast the findings presented in this study. Results show that the fishers perceived an increase in temperature, frequency of tropical cyclones and an increase in sea level. They also perceived a decrease in monsoon rainfall. Such changes impact the decreasing amount of fish in the Bay of Bengal and the fishers’ livelihood options. Analysing seasonal calendar of fishing, findings suggest that fishers’ well-being is highly associated with the amount of fish yield, rather than climatic stress, certain non-climatic factors (such as the governmental rules, less profit, bank erosion and commercial fishing) also affected their livelihood. The major adaptation strategies undertaken include, but are not limited to, installation of tube well or rainwater harvesting plant for safe drinking water, raising plinth of the house to cope with inundation and use of solar panel/biogas for electricity. Despite experiencing social stress and extreme climatic events and disasters, the majority of the fishing community expressed that they would not change their profession in future. The research suggests implementing risk reduction strategies in the coastal region of Bangladesh that supports the small-scale fishers to sustain their livelihood despite climate change consequences.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-01-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11069-021-05186-7
Abstract: Decision-making plays a key role in reducing landslide risk and preventing natural disasters. Land management, recovery of degraded lands, urban planning, and environmental protection in general are fundamental for mitigating landslide hazard and risk. Here, we present a GIS-based multi-scale approach to highlight where and when a country is affected by a high probability of landslide occurrence. In the first step, a landslide human exposure equation is developed considering the landslide susceptibility triggered by rain as hazard, and the population density as exposed factor. The output, from this overview analysis, is a global GIS layer expressing the number of potentially affected people by month, where the monthly rain is used to weight the landslide hazard. As following step, Logistic Regression (LR) analysis was implemented at a national and local level. The Receiver Operating Characteristic indicator is used to understand the goodness of a LR model. The LR models are defined by a dependent variable, presence–absence of landslide points, versus a set of independent environmental variables. The results demonstrate the relevance of a multi-scale approach, at national level the biophysical variables are able to detect landslide hotspot areas, while at sub-regional level geomorphological aspects, like land cover, topographic wetness, and local climatic condition have greater explanatory power.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2023
Publisher: Science Publications
Date: 04-2018
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-12-2020
DOI: 10.3390/SU122310147
Abstract: The Bangladeshi readymade garment (RMG) industry is considered the main driver of economic transformation, as it employs many unskilled and underprivileged people. However, recently, the RMG industry has faced international concern because of several building collapses and fire incidents, indicating inadequacy in the structural design and preparedness measures in the factory buildings. This research aims to understand earthquake hazard knowledge, preparedness, and emergency response, which may contribute to earthquake risk reduction in the RMG industry in Bangladesh. A survey using the methods of structured and semi-structured interviews and field observations was carried out to achieve the aims of this research. The findings suggest that 43% of these workers perceived their workplace as being a highly fire-prone environment, while 55 respondents believed that they were at risk of both fires and earthquakes. Only two percent believed that the workplaces are only at risk of earthquakes because the industries they work for have a zero-tolerance policy toward fire hazards. It was noted that the preparedness and improvement strategies were exclusively focused on fire hazards and related safety programs. Finally, the research suggests that the RMG industry may strengthen its earthquake risk reduction program by improving preparedness within the current workplace safety manuals without incurring extra effort and cost.
Location: Bangladesh
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 2018
Funder: United Nations
View Funded Activity