Cyclone shelters and cyclone resilient design in coastal areas of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of those countries that are most vulnerable to tropical cyclones. In recent decades, cyclone mitigations by the Government of Bangladesh and international organizations have greatly increased the coastal communities' resistance to cyclones. This thesis focuses on cyclone shelter programs, one of the most important cyclone mitigating measures. Although cyclone shelters have proven to be effective, they are currently not adequate, which requires more research and development for a more resilient future. This thesis has five chapters: an introduction that defines the problem, a broad review of settlement history and hazards in coastal Bangladesh, a planning chapter that zooms in on the issues at five spatial scales, followed by a design chapter that zooms out from proposals for improving shelter site planning to a more comprehensive analysis of the spatial network of shelters, and larger-scale coastal environmental planning and policy. The conclusion highlights the main contributions of this research: 1) developing a multi-scale integrative approach; 2) expanding the range of choice for structural cyclone mitigations; and 3) addressing environmental and cultural diversity and specificity in physical planning and design. This research can contribute to the improvement of cyclone shelters in Bangladesh and so as to make a successful program even more successful. Keywords: Bangladesh, cyclone shelters, flood hazards, mitigation, disaster resilient design

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Jia, Zheng, M.C.P. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• James L. Wescoat, Jr.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77834

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/77834