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Build cyclone resilient houses in coastal areas Coastal civil society platform urges govt

FE Report | May 09, 2019 00:00:00


Coastal civil society organisation on Wednesday called for building cyclone resilient houses alongside cyclone shelters in natural disaster prone areas.

They urged the government to allow eight existing coastal community radios to maximise capacity to 10 thousand watt, so that they can reach 100- km especially in the Bay of Bengal to cover small islands and fishing boats in the deep sea.

The speakers expressed the views at a press conference titled "Refrain from hyper activism and culture of forgetting long term preparedness: Sustainable and Local Capacity is demanded".

COAST, a non- government organisation organised the press conference at the National Press Club.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of COAST moderated the event. Among others, Nayeem Gowhar Wahra of Disaster Forum, AHM Bazlur Rahman of BNNRC, Badrul Alam of Krishok Federation and Syed Aminul Huq of COAST spoke at the press conference.

Nayeem Gowhar Wahra of Disaster Forum said the government is planning to construct seven thousand new cyclone shelters. Whereas such existing shelters have maintenance and management problems to ensure basic human facilitates having only 2 sq. feet area per person which is very difficult for a person to stay there for 48 hours.

So, there should be cyclone resilient housing instead of such cyclone shelters.

AHM Bazlur Rahman of BNNRC said the commercial FM radio stations are enjoying 10 thousand watt of broadcasting capacities, but the non-profit community radio stations only have 250-watt capacity to cover only 30 kilometers.

He urged the government to allow more for community radio stations.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, said the government must prioritise the climate related infrastructures along with growth related infrastructures as mentioned in Delta plan 2100.

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