Reading Nature's Mind: Disaster management by indigenous peoples of

The paper summarizes the traditional means of forecasting and preparedness against 17 natural hazards by the indigenous communities of the South-eastern hilly region of Bangladesh. It also records the communities’ perceptions of the onset, frequency and severity of these hazards over the last 10 yrs. The paper comments on the effectiveness, opportunities, limitations and challenges of the traditional disaster management system and outlines some possible actions, especially under changing climatic conditions.