Adopt disaster management plans before earthquake hits
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Sayed Javed Ahmad
Time has come for Bangladesh to think seriously about contingency plans for quick recovery and preparedness in the event of an earthquake like the one that wrought havoc in Haiti. Not too long ago our major local newspapers ran headlines indicating such a possibility.
We must not forget that our Dhaka city is sitting on a surface with hollow underground. This has been created mainly due to lowering of water level; which means, any major earthquake may cause disaster and leave little scope for recovery. Therefore, whatever recovery plans we take must be focused and concentrated outside Dhaka because, chances are that the city will be destroyed when it will hit by an earthquake with greater intensity.
Not only Dhaka, Chittagong too is a high earthquake risk area. Therefore, Comilla could be a better location for developing disaster recovery centres from where the logistics could be dispatched efficiently at the time of crisis. Similarly, some other locations could also be selected in order to cover other parts of the country applying the same logic and principle. With our limited knowledge and abilities what we can really do is try our best to minimise the number of casualties with some preparation, so that we could act with our best abilities when the crisis will befall on us.
Let us hope and pray that it does not happen to us as it happened to the Haitians.
We must also have plans to maintain supply chain in the aftermath of such a catastrophe to minimise the suffering of the victims. This will require preparation for rescue operation, raise healthcare facilities and boost production of food and other essentials.
Janata Bank has declared that part of its fund will be used to provide interest free loans to poor farmers as an activity of bank's corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is definitely an important and timely decision and very much part of disaster management. All our banks should follow the same footsteps to allocate part of their project funding for interest free loans to small and medium enterprises (SME) engaged in agro projects. Since the global economy is in turmoil, in order to minimise crisis and effect of disaster we need to think for a contingency plan to face any adverse situation.
Our emphasis now should be on agriculture and farming to tackle the coming global food shortage. It is good that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is showing interest in setting up atomic technology based cold storages to preserve food in Bangladesh. Our government should welcome this idea as our existing cold storage facilities are not adequate to hold and preserve food for a longer period of time.
At a time like this, we also find ourselves considering establishing a Commodity Exchange Market in the country to allow commodity trade by the public. Is it a good idea? In a country where the government has no clue and control over the supply chain management (SCM) of our basic food supply, does not have the ability to check inflation, what gives it the courage to control the commodity market if it is opened up for public manipulations?
(The writer is the Chief Operating Officer, Central Depository Bangladesh Limited. He can be reached at: www.cdbl.com.bd)
Time has come for Bangladesh to think seriously about contingency plans for quick recovery and preparedness in the event of an earthquake like the one that wrought havoc in Haiti. Not too long ago our major local newspapers ran headlines indicating such a possibility.
We must not forget that our Dhaka city is sitting on a surface with hollow underground. This has been created mainly due to lowering of water level; which means, any major earthquake may cause disaster and leave little scope for recovery. Therefore, whatever recovery plans we take must be focused and concentrated outside Dhaka because, chances are that the city will be destroyed when it will hit by an earthquake with greater intensity.
Not only Dhaka, Chittagong too is a high earthquake risk area. Therefore, Comilla could be a better location for developing disaster recovery centres from where the logistics could be dispatched efficiently at the time of crisis. Similarly, some other locations could also be selected in order to cover other parts of the country applying the same logic and principle. With our limited knowledge and abilities what we can really do is try our best to minimise the number of casualties with some preparation, so that we could act with our best abilities when the crisis will befall on us.
Let us hope and pray that it does not happen to us as it happened to the Haitians.
We must also have plans to maintain supply chain in the aftermath of such a catastrophe to minimise the suffering of the victims. This will require preparation for rescue operation, raise healthcare facilities and boost production of food and other essentials.
Janata Bank has declared that part of its fund will be used to provide interest free loans to poor farmers as an activity of bank's corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is definitely an important and timely decision and very much part of disaster management. All our banks should follow the same footsteps to allocate part of their project funding for interest free loans to small and medium enterprises (SME) engaged in agro projects. Since the global economy is in turmoil, in order to minimise crisis and effect of disaster we need to think for a contingency plan to face any adverse situation.
Our emphasis now should be on agriculture and farming to tackle the coming global food shortage. It is good that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is showing interest in setting up atomic technology based cold storages to preserve food in Bangladesh. Our government should welcome this idea as our existing cold storage facilities are not adequate to hold and preserve food for a longer period of time.
At a time like this, we also find ourselves considering establishing a Commodity Exchange Market in the country to allow commodity trade by the public. Is it a good idea? In a country where the government has no clue and control over the supply chain management (SCM) of our basic food supply, does not have the ability to check inflation, what gives it the courage to control the commodity market if it is opened up for public manipulations?
(The writer is the Chief Operating Officer, Central Depository Bangladesh Limited. He can be reached at: www.cdbl.com.bd)