Cyclone shelters for coastal people

The government's decision to build 550 more cyclone shelters is a step in the right direction. According to experts, the country's coastal area needs 6,000 such shelters. Currently, there exist 3,751 of them. While meeting the high-level officials of the ministry of disaster management in the Secretariat the other day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hit the right chord through her emphasis on proper planning for construction of the proposed cyclone shelters by avoiding their careless construction. The country's coastal belt is vulnerable to cyclone for shallow waters in the North Bay of Bengal along its south-eastern edge. Besides, the northward convergence of the Bay and high astronomical tide, presence of a large number of rivers/inlets and islands and low topographies, according to experts, make the coastal area vulnerable.
Hence the early construction of more cyclone shelters at proper sites in the coastal areas is urgent. The number of existing cyclone centres is not sufficient enough to handle any emergency situation. Only some tens of thousands of people can be accommodated in those shelters already built. But over nearly one million people have been living along the coastal line. Here construction of a human shelter at a reasonable distance in different coastal areas merits attention. The objective is to create a condition for people to rush to one of them on a short notice. Also there should be livestock shelters. In many vulnerable areas, cyclone shelters are situated more than two kilometres away from people's homes. This explains why victims could not go to the centres with their families in times of natural calamities like severe cyclones and high tidal surge in the past. Furthermore, measures need to be taken to make coastal people understand the significance of danger signals or warnings and take safe shelter to avoid death. This is one of the operational aspects of disaster preparedness and management programmes.
However, mere construction of cyclone shelters along the coast will not insure the victims against the grave consequences of severe cyclones. The authorities concerned should also think about building cross dams in the coastal belt areas to protect tidal surge. Surges like this, when accompanied with cyclone, are the major cause for loss of lives. Construction of cross dams is not possible in the distant islands and chars. On this count, it is important to motivate people to build their homesteads at least 20-feet high. Afforestation, with emphasis on extensive plantation of bamboo can be of help. Meanwhile, a cyclone shelter is not only about households. It has also to integrate into a package other basic infrastructural facilities like those of water supply, sanitation, drainage, solid waste management, roads, health centres etc. To implement a comprehensive shelter policy for the cyclone-affected people, the need for forging partnership with different specialised agencies must not also escape the attention of the authorities concerned.