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Adaptation of Behavior to Overcome Natural Disasters

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Abstract

This chapter deals with how people adapt their lives to natural disasters, such as flood, cyclone, extreme weather events, earthquake, and sea level rise. With the changing global climate, the disasters would appear more frequently and seriously. However, it is still uncertain where the disasters will occur nearby personal daily activity areas, and how great the impacts on human life will be. Surprisingly, literature review suggests that relevant studies are very limited, especially in the context of developing countries. Targeting Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate and the sixth most vulnerable to floods, this chapter describes three case studies on people’s adaptation behaviors under the impacts of different flooding and cyclone scenarios in future by focusing on intercity travel behavior, job and residential location choice behavior, and tourism behavior respectively. Various findings are derived, which are useful to help identify the barriers to the adoption of adaptation measures, the roles of different stakeholders in implementing adaptation measures, and the directions of adaptation measures in the future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://www.cegisbd.com/.

  2. 2.

    Dr. Lee was a collaborating researcher on an interdisciplinary research project led by the second author, supported by the Global Environmental Leaders (GELs) Education Program for Designing a Low-Carbon World, MEXT Special Coordination Funds for Promotion of Science and Technology, from October 2008 to September 2012. He made this prediction during that project.

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Acknowledgments

The above researches are funded by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Technology (MEXT) in Japan under the Special Coordination Funds for Promotion of Science and Technology at Hiroshima University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Qing Chang Lu

  2. Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan

    Junyi Zhang

  3. Institution for Transport Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan

    Lingling Wu

  4. Roads and Highways Department, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    A. B. M. Sertajur Rahman

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  1. Qing Chang Lu
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  4. A. B. M. Sertajur Rahman
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Correspondence to Qing Chang Lu .

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  1. Hiroshima University , Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan

    Junyi Zhang

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Lu, Q., Zhang, J., Wu, L., Sertajur Rahman, A.B.M. (2017). Adaptation of Behavior to Overcome Natural Disasters. In: Zhang, J. (eds) Life-Oriented Behavioral Research for Urban Policy. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56472-0_12

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