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The increasing occurrence of natural and
human-caused disasters, is causing extensive loss of life, damage to
property, and harm to the environment. In many instances, disasters
have forced countries to postpone national development programmes
and have contributed to worsening already precarious social,
economic and environmental conditions, particularly in human
settlements.
In the last decade, more than 200 million people
were affected annually by natural disasters – seven times more than
those affected by conflict. Natural hazards become disasters when
they impact the people and assets that are susceptible to their
destructive effects and nowhere is this more significant than in the
world’s cities, towns and villages. Factors such as inappropriate
land use, poorly designed and constructed buildings and
infrastructure, and an increasingly degraded environment put human
settlements at risk. Although these hazards exist in both developed
and developing countries, they often impact more severely and
sometimes repeatedly in developing countries where the institutional
capacity is lowest, leaving large populations of the poorest
inhabitants chronically vulnerable.
The major disasters identified in Bangladesh are:
floods, cyclonic storms and storm surges, tornadoes, drought and
desertification, river erosion, earthquakes, arsenic contamination
of ground water sources, pollution, refugees, ethnic, sectarian or
communal conflict; and epidemics.
Disasters are not only naturally caused, many are simply the
consequences of man made decisions. There are some disasters which
seem more like political problems such as communal conflicts and
refugee issues but they become disasters if perceived from the
sufferers' point of view. In such cases most victims are forced to
suddenly suffer or flee simply because they belong to a particular
social, religious or ethnic group. Bad economic policies can also
lead to economic difficulties and therefore to forced migration.
The relationships between disasters, growth and
poverty are both direct and indirect. When a disaster strikes, it
immediately puts an end to economic and social activities, because
the organisation of such activities becomes dysfunctional. Secondly,
disasters such as floods or cyclones may disrupt communications and
the infrastructure and consequently peoples’ employment and income
may be adversely affected for a period. Most importantly, natural
disasters create tremendous human misery, including death, both when
they occur and in their aftermath. Often it is the poor and the
infirm who fall easy prey to disasters and it is also they who may
take the longest to recover from the adverse effects.
Also, during a natural disaster the poor are more numerous among
those killed because they are least prepared to face such events and
they are generally more concentrated in the hazard-prone areas of
Bangladesh. Death of the earning member of a poor family brings
lasting misery to its members. Thus the gains in poverty reduction
suffer a setback. The other direct effects due to natural disasters
include damages caused to residential housing, housing goods, crops,
fisheries, and livestock. Damage done to transport and communication
facilities, capital assets including stocks of food both at the
household and the state level have significant indirect adverse
effect. The indirect impact and the second-round effects of natural
disasters in Bangladesh are often hard to estimate.
Bangladesh being one of the world’s most
disaster-prone countries, it can ill-afford to ignore the adverse
impact of natural disasters on the process of poverty reduction and
growth. The disaster risk management must be integrated with
development activities. In doing so, the future strategy will begin
from the premise that while natural hazards are the starting point
of a potential disaster, what turns the potential into a reality is
the lack of a nation’s capacity to cope with hazards at various
levels: national, local, community, household and individual. The
desirable strategic thrust in future will therefore be towards
disaster risk management, which means avoidance or minimisation of
the impact of a disaster through increased coping capacity at
various levels, not only within the nation but also globally and
regionally.
This is possible with proper institutionalisation backed by adequate
and regular provision of resources for preparedness against hazards.
This preparedness implies the following: (i) an effective early
warning system to predict the onset of disaster; (ii) an
institutionalised triggering mechanism for response during and after
the disaster; (iii) networking among public institutions,
non-government organisations, the community and individual
households for integrated planning and coordination but
decentralised responsibility for implementation of actions by these
actors before, during and after a disaster; and (iv) proper
development and deployment of institutional, logistics and human
capacity and skill through training, research, up gradation and
regular maintenance of facilities for mitigation of damages.
The Government of Bangladesh has drawn up a
Five-Year Strategic Plan for the Comprehensive Disaster Management
Programme (2004-2008) which already encompasses some of the elements
mentioned above. The Plan, a collaborative effort of the Government
and the Development Partners, is in the process of being finalised.
It envisages to bring a paradigm shift in disaster management from
conventional response and relief practices to a more comprehensive
risk reduction culture. The Plan incorporates programmes to
strengthen the capacity of the Bangladesh disaster management system
in order to reduce unacceptable risk and improve response and
recovery management at all levels.
Bangladesh has had the misfortune to go through a
myriad of disasters. Though most of the well-publicized disasters
had affected rural communities, the urban areas are by no means
hazard-free. Floods are a recurrent menace affecting parts of the
country annually and the rest periodically. The coastal areas also
periodically experience cyclonic storms often accompanied with storm
surges. Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar are coastal cities and a number
of cyclone shelters are constructed to provide shelter during
disaster with comprehensive cyclone preparedness. LGED has developed
models and constructed
cyclone shelters for multipurpose use during the
non cyclone period such as school, madrashas, mosque, family welfare
centre, union parishad office-cum-community centre, storage godown
etc. During the last flood affecting Dhaka City in 1998, 70 percent
of the city area was inundated for as long as 90 days. The disaster
risk is very high in Bangladesh. Natural disasters like cyclones,
floods and tidal surges claimed approximately 153,000 lives in
Bangladesh during the last 10 years affected at least 50 million
people and caused damages to property worth more than US$ 7 billion.
Measures undertaken to protect the people and their property from
such disasters have been very inadequate so far.
When disaster hits, the only option for many
people is to stand helpless and suffer the consequences. The South
Asia Regional Program in Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal and Vietnam
assisted by UNEP and UNCHS will promote the exchange of knowledge
and cooperation, studies on human settlements and disasters to
support the normative activities of the program and the UNCHS
(Habitat) global campaigns for secure tenure and urban governance.
and technical capacity on flood prevention and mitigation among the
countries.
The threat of earthquake also looms large. Since
land is scarce, population density high and the hazards almost
ubiquitous, prohibiting settlements on disaster-prone areas through
zoning regulations is not an option. A panel of experts has
finalized the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC, 1996), which,
if properly followed, should minimize losses due to disasters. The
government has taken action to enforce BNBC to construct high rise
building to prevent disasters. Maps showing the fault lines and
contours and flood embankments are publicly available, but no hazard
mapping as such has been done.
Disaster insurance is generally non-existent apart from fire
insurance and insurance for crops. Although the Disaster Management
Bureau, Red Crescent Society and Non Governmental Organizations have
done a commendable job in improving disaster preparedness in rural
areas frequently struck by disasters, preparedness is very low in
the cities. Three geological faults run underneath the city and
geologists warn of the risk of a major earthquake hitting the city.
After recent earthquake in the neighboring country in Guzrat,
efforts have been taken by the Ministry of Housing & Public Works to
follow BNBC in all high rising buildings construction and an
environmental guideline for high rising building is also under
preparation by the Ministry.
This preparedness implies the following: (i) an
effective early warning system to predict the onset of disaster;
(ii) an institutionalised triggering mechanism for response during
and after the disaster; (iii) networking among public institutions,
non-government organisations, the community and individual
households for integrated planning and coordination but
decentralised responsibility for implementation of actions by these
actors before, during and after a disaster; and (iv) proper
development and deployment of institutional, logistics and human
capacity and skill through training, research, up gradation and
regular maintenance of facilities for mitigation of damages.
The frequently adverse impact of weather-related
disasters has given rise to two reactions in Bangladesh. First,
there is the inevitable need for emergency gratuitous relief
operations. This is a Government programme run by the Department of
Relief and Rehabilitation. It is designed to provide emergency
relief to disaster victims. While it is a relatively small programme,
it is the main instrument through which the Government provides
immediate, short-term relief to disaster areas. Another programme,
Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), is triggered by disaster and is used
purely as an emergency programme. Second, there is considerable
interest in risk mitigation programmes.
Another government programme is the Fund for
Mitigating Risks for Natural Disasters. This has a total budgetary
allocation of Tk 1.5 billion. The programme is intended to respond
to natural disasters such as drought, rain from the hills, floods,
river erosion, cyclones and tidal waves. It covers about 22,000
beneficiaries each year. Victims of disasters are eligible for
interest-free loans from Tk 5,000 to Tk 25,000, with a one to three
years’ period for loan repayment and a one-time 5 percent service
charge. PKSF is also implementing a pilot programme titled “Disaster
Fund for the Poorest” specifically to protect those who have
borrowed micro-credit under the programme.
Asrayan/Abashan Programme: After the independence
of Bangladesh the Government inaugurated a “Cluster Village” project
to rehabilitate the landless people in a particular district. In
line with this activity, a number of Cluster villages were later
established.
After the cyclone of 1997, the Government took
steps to build strong houses and shelters and the project Asrayan
was launched. It is a programme to provide shelter and
self-employment for the poorest people of the society. Asrayan
residents also get training in disaster managem ent, team building,
women’s empowerment, primary healthcare, skill development, and
income generating activities. Recently, the Government has
undertaken a similar programme named Abashan. The objectives of this
programme are to: (i) provide homeless and landless families with
homesteads and basic facilities on Khas (Government owned) land;
(ii) enhance community development, crisiscoping capacity and
increase self-reliance; (ii) facilitate provision of basic
necessities, i.e. education, health and nutrition, family planning;
and (4) promote income-generating activities.
The Housing Fund: The Government has started a
housing loan scheme, called the Housing Fund. The main purpose of
the programme is to improve the quality of life of the poor people
by providing loans to construct safe and durable houses. The Housing
Fund programme was introduced in 1997-98 all over the country. Till
now, the Government has allocated Taka 980 million for the Housing
Fund. The Housing Fund is a small programme. The project provides (i)
housing loans to low-income households to construct houses through
partnership agreements with NGOs; and (ii) micro-credit to the
loanees through implementing agencies/NGOs for income-generating
purpose. The target groups of the Housing Fund are the rural poor,
the landless, small and marginal
farmers, people who are rendered homeless because of calamity.
Source: Unlocking the
Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (PRSP)
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
http://www.unhabitat.org/programmes/rdmu/
Progress of implementation of the Habitat Agenda (1996-2001)
Bangladesh Environment Facing the 21st Century: SEHD
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