Social capital for disaster risk reduction and management with empirical evidences from Sundarbans of India

Social capital is a resource which is embedded in every community and it has been observed that it plays an important role in different stages of a disaster. Social capital can be crucial for a community to survive till outside help arrives, in event of a disaster, and many a time it is the only resource that the community can mobilize to respond and recover. This research paper reviewed the contribution of social capital with different empirical evidences from cases across the world and brought it into the perspective of the study area in Sundarbans, India. The study area is frequented by disasters like tropical cyclones and surges, it was observed that the network at the community level is crucial for survival of the community. It also was observed that social capital acts like an informal insurance in cases of small scale disasters. Social capital is more relevant in this remote study area as it compensates for the gaps in basic infrastructure and proper disaster management institutions. Thus, proper mobilization of social capital can really be an asset to communities living in remote hazardous area

Gender and Rural Poverty in Myanmar: A Micro Level Study in the Dry Zone

The study investigates the poverty incidence, access to resources, and the factors influencing income of both male and female-headed households in the dry zone of Myanmar. A household survey was conducted in six villages with a sample of 220 households in 2003. The Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) method was applied in constructing the absolute poverty line. By applying the absolute poverty line of 252 Kyats per person per day, the female-headed households are more likely to be poor than the male-headed households with or without household size adjustment. Results of the regression analysis revealed that average per capita income of rural households is significantly influenced by 8 independent variables. They are: gender of household head, household size, land holding size, degraded land size, cattle heads, labour force, sources of income, and irrigation water. Moreover, the separate regression analyses were run for male and female-headed households. In addition to the some common significant variables (land, labour, cattle, degraded land, and household size), female-headed households’ income is significantly influenced by training attendance and schooling years of household head. In male-headed households, age of household head, number of income sources and irrigation water are highly linked with the average per capita income. The gender focus rural development strategies should be adopted for promoting the welfare status of both male and femaleheaded households in the dry zone