Study Area: The Teesta floodplain is one of the largest floodplains in Bangladesh, located in the northern region of the country. This northern region has a higher incidence of poverty, characterized by income deficit and undiversified income. The maximum and minimum monthly average temperature for Rangpur station in 2017 was 30.20C and 20.90C, respectively, with a maximum day temperature of 370C in July and a minimum of 6.60C in January (Source: Bangladesh Meteorological Department). The average annual rainfall in this region is slightly over 1900 mm. Teesta River, which is one of the most important rivers of the northern region, cut through the Teesta floodplain. This river runs through Sikkim and West Bengal of India, and the five northern districts of Bangladesh: Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rangpur, and Gaibandha. It is the fourth largest transboundary river of Bangladesh after Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna. People lives along the banks of Teesta River are exposed to uncertain floods, bank erosions, and periodic droughts. Among these disasters, floods are the most destructive for the riparian people. Households adopt a variety of measures to manage flood risks. The primary causes of floods in the Teesta River are river overflow, particularly due to the release of water from the barrage, erratic rainfall, riverbank erosion, and poor drainage. The most recent disastrous floods related to the Teesta River were in 1998, 2004, 2008, 2017, and 2020. The flood in 2017 was particularly devastating, causing severe damage to houses and crops, and more than fifty casualties in those five northern districts. At Dalia station of Teesta River, the water level crossed the danger level (52.6 m) four times and reached at the highest recorded peak (53.05 m) on 13 August 2017. Floods are regular events for the people who reside along the Teesta riverbank.
Sampling and data collection: This study used a multi-stage sampling technique to select survey locations and households. The right bank of the Teesta River was selected purposively for this study. The reason behind the selection of the right bank of Teesta River was that Dharla River and Brahmaputra River are situated on the left bank side of the Teesta River. To understand the impact of Teesta River floods, only the right bank side was selected as a case study area. Next, three districts from the right bank were considered for sampling, selecting one upazila (Upazila functions as a sub-district of a district in Bangladesh) from each: Dimla upazila from Nilphamari district, Gangachara upazila from Rangpur district, and Sundarganj upazila from Gaibandha district. Before the interview, the respondents were informed regarding the purpose of the study and asked whether they would like to participate. The interview was conducted after receiving the verbal consent from the respondents. This study was approved by the Tokyo Institute of Technology Human Ethics Committee. To assess post-disaster coping strategies adopted by the households, the respondents were asked whether or not they adopted 21 measures during or immediate (within one month) after the 2017 flood which was selected based on literature review, focus group discussion and informal interviews.
Data collected through the structured questionnaire were coded and then analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 25). The Chi-square test of independence, bivariate correlation, and logistic regression techniques were used to explore the relationship between dependent and independent variables.