Water Market Actors in Dhaka: Strengthening Earthquake Resilience and Preparedness

This paper by Graeme English, Luiza Campos, and Jonathan Parkinson makes a valuable contribution to the last of these themes – coordinating urban disaster preparedness. By focusing on a specific and important sector – water – in the Bangladeshi capital, the paper draws attention to a range of preparedness measures that should take place prior to a major event such as an earthquake. The paper reviews current understanding of urban disaster risk reduction for domestic water resources and distribution. It indicates that stakeholders need to better understand water market systems in order to improve their responses and preparedness for an earthquake. It analyses the current situation related to resilience in the domestic water supply chain in Dhaka, and applies market-system mapping to highlight how stakeholders can work better with communities and market actors, as well as to highlight weak links in distribution chains.