Abstract:
Bangladesh is crisscrossed by hundreds of river,s. Since the country is geographically a
deltaic plane, it is vulnerable to waler allied natural disasters like flood and river erosion. In
Bangladesh, ilie lrcqueney of hazards is such that efforts to mitigate one disaster are often
followed by another event, thllS entailing the need for all-year-round preparedness. That is
why, the local NUOs (Non Government Organization) or MFls (Micro Finance Institutions)
aft' the m(lst important organizations to playa significant role in disaster fighting.
This research is an attempt to examine the role of Micro Finance Institutions in reducing
vulnerability of flood and river erosion affected people. This study has been condllCtcd on 5
villages from Char Algi Union of Mymensingh District and 5 villages from Mohonpur
Union of Chandpur District which arc vulnerable to flood and river erosion re~pectively.
The over all actIvitics of Micro-finance Institutions in the study areas along with their
activities for di~ter managcment has bccn identified in this research. To reach the goal,
this research has examined the comparative advantage and disadvantage of the .Microfinanec
program beneficiaries in coping with disasler as well as the change in disaster
fighting ability of the beneficiaries aftcr bcing membcr of MFls tluough conducting an
extensive field survey.
In orUcr to a%css the comparative advantages of MFI members in coping with flood and
erosion, thc lcvel of difference between the beneficiary and non-beneficiary in some social,
economic and health indicators related to vulnerability to Ilood and erosion have been
examined. Similarly, to assess thc impact of MFI activities on its members, the extent of
change in social, economic and health indicators related to vulnerability to flood and
erosion havc also becn examined. Following ilia analysis and findings on vulnerability
indicators, ~omc critical comments and recommendatioru; have been made for further
rcs!ructuring of MI'l"s activities and programs toward the more effective contribution to
dlsa~tcr management. Hopefully iliis re,;earch rill opcn up somc new vistas for the
intervention of micro-finance ill disaster management.
