Gender Perspective in Disaster Preparedness a Study in Flood-prone Areas in Rural West Bengal

Despite of having strong historical background the district Murshidabad of West Bengal is one of the backward districts with a position of 15th out of 17 undivided districts (now 19 districts) of West Bengal as per the Human Development Report published in 2004. The district Murshidabad is suffering from many social ailments; one of which is recurring flood. In this study we tried to represent how people-in gender perspective-prepare themselves to overcome the situation by exploring the local indigenous knowledge through the active participation of women in an organised way. The study reveals that how active women participation could change the dimension of the process of implementing any programme. The findings of the study again indicate that women have the better understanding than the male counter part with the society and any social problems as they have to take more responsibility at the time of disaster.