The root causes of landslide vulnerability in Bangladesh

Abstract Communities living in the Chittagong Hill Districts (CHD) of Bangladesh recurrently observe landslide disasters during the monsoon season (June–September). CHD is primarily dominated by three distinct groups of hill communities, namely, urbanised hill (Bengali), indigenous tribal and stateless Rohingya refugees. Landslide vulnerability amongst them is complex and varies between physical, social, economic, environmental, institutional and cultural dimensions. This study aims to understand driving forces of landslide disasters in the region by emphasising human factors. Data from the three contrasting communities were collected through participatory workshops, in-depth interviews and fieldwork observation. The participants were local people and landslide experts who were purposefully selected from five case study communities in the CHD. They ranked different socio-economic problems, identified causes of landslides…