Bangladesh makes strides in limiting storm death tolls
Sunday, 18 November 2007
Bangladesh has made huge strides in reducing death tolls from the cyclones that bash its coastline every year due to well-managed preparedness, aid agencies said Saturday, reports bdnews24.com.
The death toll from the monster cyclone that struck Bangladesh late Thursday, has reached nearly 1,000. But just 16 years ago, a similar cyclone killed more than 143,000 people. And another one in 1970 killed over 500,000.
Super cyclone Sidr smashed into Bangladesh's southern coastline with 250-kph winds that whipped up a five-metre tidal surge. The official death toll from Thursday's cyclone was 915.
Sinnaduri said early warnings by meteorologists and faster evacuation of people by skilled rescuers also contributed enormously towards cyclone preparedness.
The toll could have been further reduced if people had not stayed behind to safeguard their homes.
Many people living by the sea say they stayed home because transport was not available to move them out quickly enough.
"I was ready to go with my wife and children. But before we could arrange a boat, the winds had already started blowing," said Abdul Mannan, a resident of Mongla, near the Sundarbans.
As Cyclone Sidr raged up the Bay of Bengal this week, 30,000 volunteers fanned out to tell villagers how to protect themselves and help evacuate those in the path of the danger.
"I can imagine that this cyclone would have killed over 100,000 in (the early 1990s)," says Kamal Akbar, executive director of aid agency RDRS Bangladesh.
Cyclones are not getting any less powerful, so what has changed?
Announcements were broadcast over mosque loudspeakers to alert communities to the impending disaster, said Wahida Bashar Ahmed, Action Aid's emergencies coordinator in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has also set up several thousand cyclone shelters in recent years and all new schools are designed to function as flood shelters. They are built with reinforced concrete and elevated from the ground.
The death toll from the monster cyclone that struck Bangladesh late Thursday, has reached nearly 1,000. But just 16 years ago, a similar cyclone killed more than 143,000 people. And another one in 1970 killed over 500,000.
Super cyclone Sidr smashed into Bangladesh's southern coastline with 250-kph winds that whipped up a five-metre tidal surge. The official death toll from Thursday's cyclone was 915.
Sinnaduri said early warnings by meteorologists and faster evacuation of people by skilled rescuers also contributed enormously towards cyclone preparedness.
The toll could have been further reduced if people had not stayed behind to safeguard their homes.
Many people living by the sea say they stayed home because transport was not available to move them out quickly enough.
"I was ready to go with my wife and children. But before we could arrange a boat, the winds had already started blowing," said Abdul Mannan, a resident of Mongla, near the Sundarbans.
As Cyclone Sidr raged up the Bay of Bengal this week, 30,000 volunteers fanned out to tell villagers how to protect themselves and help evacuate those in the path of the danger.
"I can imagine that this cyclone would have killed over 100,000 in (the early 1990s)," says Kamal Akbar, executive director of aid agency RDRS Bangladesh.
Cyclones are not getting any less powerful, so what has changed?
Announcements were broadcast over mosque loudspeakers to alert communities to the impending disaster, said Wahida Bashar Ahmed, Action Aid's emergencies coordinator in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has also set up several thousand cyclone shelters in recent years and all new schools are designed to function as flood shelters. They are built with reinforced concrete and elevated from the ground.