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Vulnerability to Tropical Cyclones: Evidence from the April 1991 Cyclone in Coastal Bangladesh
Author(s) -
HAQUE C. EMDAD,
BLAIR DANNY
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1992.tb00400.x
Subject(s) - tropical cyclone , cyclone (programming language) , vulnerability (computing) , poison control , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , geography , meteorology , socioeconomics , environmental health , engineering , political science , computer security , medicine , sociology , law , computer science , field programmable gate array , embedded system
In this article we report the results of a survey conducted in two coastal communities of Bangladesh less than two weeks after they were hit by the severe cyclone of April 29, 1991. It was found that almost all of the surveyed heads of households had received early warnings of the cyclone. Nevertheless, a majority of the respondents did not leave their homes to seek shelter. The two most common reasons given for this passive reaction were (i) fear of burglary and (ii) disbelief of the warnings. Thus, it appears that the existing system of early warnings is not having its intended effect and that it, and related disaster mitigation policies, need to be revised. Some suggestions are made as to what could be done.