Assessment of Cyclone Aila Recovery Progress in Bangladesh: A Comparison Between Rice and Shrimp Farming Villages in Koyra

Land use planning is one of the basic principles of Build Back Better (BBB) and it shapes the risk reduction aspects. In the south-western region of Bangladesh, the conflict between shrimp and rice farming is the most critical obstacle to implement any land use plan. There are several studies which tried to compare shrimp and rice farming from the context of economy, livelihood, environment, and gender, to aid the land use planning process. This research aims to compare shrimp and rice farming from the context of disaster management. The study investigated the recovery process in Koyra Upazila after it was hit by cyclone Aila, and attempted to assess the recovery progress in the shrimp and rice dominated villages of Uttarbedkashi, Koyra. This study thereby brings another dimension i.e. “performance in post-disaster recovery” to consider when land use planning. It helps to understand whether to prioritize shrimp or rice cultivation in the area. To measure recovery progress, the research adopted a people’s perception generated synthetic data based method. FGDs were conducted with the local people to acquire time series data on the recovery progress. This perception-generated time series data helped to construct synthetic recovery curves which illustrate the progress of recovery. The results evidently show that resuming rice cultivation and switching shrimp to rice contributed to better community recovery.