People’s Perception and Response to Tornado of 2013: A study at Sadar Upazila in Brahmanbaria District

Abstract

The geographical location and characteristics of Bangladesh make it one of the most disaster prone countries and rank it as the most climatically vulnerable country in the world.In every year, a number of storm strikes in different part of Bangladesh. Tornado is strongest one of them. Bangladesh hasrecently,on 22March 2013, experienced a tornadic event which also caused severely damages in the eastern part of Bangladesh more specifically in Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh. This study is subjected to find out the local people’s perception and response regarding to that tornado. It is evident from the study findings that there was no warning provided for this tornado and this was also occurred for first time in this area. Therefore, the local people were not prepared and almost knew nothing about this disaster. Most of the respondent defined tornado being influenced by the religious and cultural values and only 22 percent of the respondents said that they took shelter in their neighbor’s building during tornado because there is no emergency shelter center and also disaster related information center in this area. But after the tornado local elite people, Government and Non-government organizations came forward to help them to adapt the situation and to minimize the damages.