Speakers at a roundtable on Monday stressed the need for timely early warning of disasters, introducing auto shutdown system for gas and electricity, and exchanging of mobile network sharing during crisis period for proper management and to minimise possible losses caused by disasters.
They also identified a number of challenges for disaster management including the functionality of local disaster management committees (DMCs), the proper dissemination and reach of cyclone warning, flood forecast and early warning in local languages to make people understand.
They also opined that Bangladesh should take the required measures to engage and receive the global fund for loss and damage due to climate change.
The observations and recommendations came at a roundtable discussion on disaster management organized by BRAC in the city as part of Bangladesh's observance of National Disaster Preparedness Day (NDPD) on Sunday to raise awareness and strengthen preparedness to cope with the disasters.
Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Kamrul Hasan called all related stakeholders working together and said the government alone couldn't make people aware of the issues.
He also stressed the importance of following the BNBC (Bangladesh National Building Code) to avert man-made disaster.
"Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to both natural disasters and climate change. The frequency and intensity of these natural disasters further exacerbate the damage and loss," said Liakath Ali, director at BRAC while presenting his keynote paper.
Roughly 300 natural and man-made disasters that struck Bangladesh resulted in nearly 0.5 million fatalities and damage worth over US$22.1 billion, he added.
"Due to the impact of climate change, over 7.0 million people have migrated, and by 2050, the number of climate migrants may reach 13 million," he noted.
Ahmadul Haque, director, Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) said inter-ministerial data exchange as one of the major challenges and added that early warning messages should be in local languages so that people can easily understand them.
Speaking over gender equality, Dilruba Haider, programme specialist at UN Women, called for investment and inclusion of women in DMCs in Unions and Upazilas.
KAM Morshed, senior director at BRAC made the concluding remarks while Mijanur Rahman, director general of Department of Disaster Management, Sardar Udoy Raihan, executive engineer at Flood Forecasting and Warning Center, and Fatima Akter, associate professor and chairperson, Department of Meteorology, Dhaka University, among others, spoke at the programme.
Munni_fe@yahoo.com