ABSTRACT
Bangladesh is prone to natural calamities, including cyclones, river erosion, flooding, and saline intrusion. At the same time, the country is highly known for its disaster preparedness activities. Disaster preparedness has been defined as the efforts taken before a disaster. It could be tailored to certain demographics by researching the effects of calamity. The goal of this study was to investigate the demographic factors that influence disaster preparedness. This survey was conducted in August 2018. The residents of Borunpara village, Batiaghata Upazilla, Khulna district, who were the main target population, had a household head or responsible person who was at least 18 years old and had higher awareness of disaster preparedness and risk reduction. Total 120 individuals were selected randomly by using Kothari equation of sample size determination for focus group discussion (FGD), key in-depth interview, and questionnaire survey to conduct this study. The findings of this study demonstrate that the socioeconomic attribute like income governs the secondary occupation and education of those area as well as demographic variables like monthly income levels, jobs, educational backgrounds, and gender have a significant impact on disaster risk reduction behavior. The study also found that 49.2% respondents had not done anything to protect themselves from possible future disaster. According to the study it is found that only 44% of the respondents have the indigenous knowledge to identify the risk of disaster. And finally, the 60% community participants have the capacity that represents medium resilience. However, when it comes to disaster risk management, gender, education, and occupation determine the practical factors. Income and age were regulated here as less factors. Most importantly, customary demographic determinants dominate disaster risk mitigation factors. To facilitate disaster preparedness actions, disaster professionals should focus on improving disaster preparedness behaviors for low-income earners, the unemployed, and those living in high-risk areas, especially those who have never experienced a disaster.
