Disaster management and Bangladesh

To better understand disaster vulnerability, it is important to look at the various sources that create or augment it

Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country of an area of about 1,47,570 sq.km... with population more than 150 million. Bangladesh has special geographical feature. It has the Himalayan range to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the south.
The combined affects of the role played by these special geographical features have significant bearing on weather system, Bangladesh becomes the worst victim of natural calamities causing colossal loss of lives and properties. The strong monsoon rains, coupled with Bangladesh’s location in the delta of the world’s second largest river basin, make it extremely vulnerable to recurring floods. In addition, the country’s approximately 600 kilometers of coastline leave huge tracts of land open to the destructive effects of cyclones and storm surges.
Most of the people of this country are very poor. It is predominantly an agricultural country. The economy largely depends on weather. Major disasters that occur in Bangladesh are: tropical cyclone, tidal bore, flood, tornado, river bank erosion, earthquake etc. A large number of poor people are to live in vulnerable areas of the southern part of Bangladesh. The vulnerability is so miserable that they have to go and settle in the newly accreted land in Bay of Bengal and its surrounding areas which is occasionally hit by tidal bore or devastating cyclone. The adverse impacts of all the natural hazards affecting  socio-economic condition need to be reduced for sustainable development. Realization of the reality, the Government of Bangladesh has undertaken a lot of plans and programs for disaster reduction through disaster management.

Regardless of location, mankind is threatened by hazards of many types. This has been especially evident during the previous five years when terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, a tsunami hit Asia in 2004, and a record number of hurricanes hit U.S. coasts. In addition, over the previous century, hazardous events have occurred with increasing frequency around the world, impacting a greater number of people. Therefore, more must be done to address disaster vulnerability.

To better understand vulnerability, it is important to look at the various sources that create or augment it. Prior disasters have resulted from several factors. For example, social economic factors (such as poverty) and demographic patterns (such as growing populations, gender, children, and elderly populations) have all increased vulnerability in disasters. Other factors that have augmented vulnerability include policy failures, weak emergency management institutions, environmental degradation, and cultural attitudes. This section will discuss these six factors and how they each contribute to vulnerability.

Women, especially single mothers, are also vulnerable during hazard events. The reason for their proneness or inadequate capability is that they, in most cases, lack the resources to adequately respond during an event. Single parent mothers generally have more limited funds than men because they use almost all their money to support their children. As women in such conditions raise children 26 & Disaster Management Handbook without the assistance of a spouse, they can barely meet the challenges of caring for their children on a day-to-day basis, let alone providing for them during an emergency or disaster. Women are also vulnerable to disasters because ‘‘they are more likely to remain with family members in emergencies to nurture, assist, and protect them.’’

Children are vulnerable to disasters because they lack the family support to cope with the effects of a disaster. For example, when children are forced into temporary shelters or disaster-assistance centers, they have to endure the psychological pain of being displaced from their homes. In some cases, they endure the pain of losing a parent or being temporarily separated from a parent.

Such moments can prove difficult for a child causing them to experience major psychological setbacks.

There are other three factors which cause vulnerability. Such as as policy failure, weak emergency management institution, environmental degradation and people’s attitude & culture.

There are advantages and disadvantages to viewing vulnerability reduction through the concept of risk. The advantage of the risk reduction approach is that it is proactive, looking to the future to anticipate impending threats. Also, this approach focuses on the physical consequence of risky decisions that lead to an individual’s increased exposure to a hazard. Therefore, a risk reduction approach to emergency management will focus heavily on safeguarding human life, property, and physical infrastructure. However, viewing vulnerability through this concept also has shortcomings. When one considers vulnerability through risk reduction, they fail to acknowledge nonphysical factors that increase vulnerability. Such factors are a poor economy, cultural values and traditions, politics, and poor emergency management policies and practices.

Reducing susceptibility is the second approach to dealing with vulnerability. An important aspect to vulnerability reduction is a proper understanding of the social, cultural, political, economic, psychological, and organizational variables related to disasters. For example, as Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, impoverished individuals are most susceptible to a disaster because they lack the resources to respond and recover. The elderly are another social group that is susceptible to disasters because, in most cases, they lack the mobility, health, and financial resources to avoid hazards. Culturally, some individuals or communities are more susceptible to disasters than others because they are more culturally fatalistic.

Natural disaster not only bring immense suffering and miseries to millions of affected people but also triggers a whole set of mechanism that affects the economic and social life of people. These have both short and long-term socio-economic implications. It is usually the poor who suffer the most because they lack the resources to overcome their financial losses.

Their asset base and economic staying capacity is very low and therefore, cannot withstand the onslaught of such disaster making them utterly vulnerable. In most cases, the vulnerability derives from poverty itself. Poor people are more likely to live in disaster-prone areas. This vulnerability is further exacerbated because the poor who are forced to live in these areas cannot afford to undertake measures to reduce the risk of natural disaster. So comprehensive disaster management program must be chalked by government and the coordinating all other non-government agencie's. Its implementation up to grass-root level will play a signaficant role to reduce risk and vulnerability.

The writer is Deputy Director General & Commandant (PRL), Ansar-VDP Academy, Safipur, Gazipur

 

Disaster management and Bangladesh

To better understand disaster vulnerability, it is important to look at the various sources that create or augment it

Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country of an area of about 1,47,570 sq.km... with population more than 150 million. Bangladesh has special geographical feature. It has the Himalayan range to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the south. The combined affects of the role played by these special geographical features have significant bearing on weather system, Bangladesh becomes the worst victim of natural calamities causing colossal loss of lives and properties. The strong monsoon rains, coupled with Bangladeshs location in the delta of the worlds second largest river basin, make it extremely vulnerable to recurring floods. In addition, the countrys approximately 600 kilometers of coastline leave huge tracts of land open to the destructive effects of cyclones and storm surges. Most of the people of this country are very poor. It is predominantly an agricultural country. The economy largely depends on weather. Major disasters that occur in Bangladesh are: tropical cyclone, tidal bore, flood, tornado, river bank erosion, earthquake etc. A large number of poor people are to live in vulnerable areas of the southern part of Bangladesh. The vulnerability is so miserable that they have to go and settle in the newly accreted land in Bay of Bengal and its surrounding areas which is occasionally hit by tidal bore or devastating cyclone. The adverse impacts of all the natural hazards affecting socio-economic condition need to be reduced for sustainable development. Realization of the reality, the Government of Bangladesh has undertaken a lot of plans and programs for disaster reduction through disaster management. Regardless of location, mankind is threatened by hazards of many types. This has been especially evident during the previous five years when terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, a tsunami hit Asia in 2004, and a record number of hurricanes hit U.S. coasts. In addition, over the previous century, hazardous events have occurred with increasing frequency around the world, impacting a greater number of people. Therefore, more must be done to address disaster vulnerability. To better understand vulnerability, it is important to look at the various sources that create or augment it. Prior disasters have resulted from several factors. For example, social economic factors (such as poverty) and demographic patterns (such as growing populations, gender, children, and elderly populations) have all increased vulnerability in disasters. Other factors that have augmented vulnerability include policy failures, weak emergency management institutions, environmental degradation, and cultural attitudes. This section will discuss these six factors and how they each contribute to vulnerability. Women, especially single mothers, are also vulnerable during hazard events. The reason for their proneness or inadequate capability is that they, in most cases, lack the resources to adequately respond during an event. Single parent mothers generally have more limited funds than men because they use almost all their money to support their children. As women in such conditions raise children 26 Disaster Management Handbook without the assistance of a spouse, they can barely meet the challenges of caring for their children on a day-to-day basis, let alone providing for them during an emergency or disaster. Women are also vulnerable to disasters because they are more likely to remain with family members in emergencies to nurture, assist, and protect them. Children are vulnerable to disasters because they lack the family support to cope with the effects of a disaster. For example, when children are forced into temporary shelters or disaster-assistance centers, they have to endure the psychological pain of being displaced from their homes. In some cases, they endure the pain of losing a parent or being temporarily separated from a parent. Such moments can prove difficult for a child causing them to experience major psychological setbacks. There are other three factors which cause vulnerability. Such as as policy failure, weak emergency management institution, environmental degradation and peoples attitude culture. There are advantages and disadvantages to viewing vulnerability reduction through the concept of risk. The advantage of the risk reduction approach is that it is proactive, looking to the future to anticipate impending threats. Also, this approach focuses on the physical consequence of risky decisions that lead to an individuals increased exposure to a hazard. Therefore, a risk reduction approach to emergency management will focus heavily on safeguarding human life, property, and physical infrastructure. However, viewing vulnerability through this concept also has shortcomings. When one considers vulnerability through risk reduction, they fail to acknowledge nonphysical factors that increase vulnerability. Such factors are a poor economy, cultural values and traditions, politics, and poor emergency management policies and practices. Reducing susceptibility is the second approach to dealing with vulnerability. An important aspect to vulnerability reduction is a proper understanding of the social, cultural, political, economic, psychological, and organizational variables related to disasters. For example, as Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, impoverished individuals are most susceptible to a disaster because they lack the resources to respond and recover. The elderly are another social group that is susceptible to disasters because, in most cases, they lack the mobility, health, and financial resources to avoid hazards. Culturally, some individuals or communities are more susceptible to disasters than others because they are more culturally fatalistic. Natural disaster not only bring immense suffering and miseries to millions of affected people but also triggers a whole set of mechanism that affects the economic and social life of people. These have both short and long-term socio-economic implications. It is usually the poor who suffer the most because they lack the resources to overcome their financial losses. Their asset base and economic staying capacity is very low and therefore, cannot withstand the onslaught of such disaster making them utterly vulnerable. In most cases, the vulnerability derives from poverty itself. Poor people are more likely to live in disaster-prone areas. This vulnerability is further exacerbated because the poor who are forced to live in these areas cannot afford to undertake measures to reduce the risk of natural disaster. So comprehensive disaster management program must be chalked by government and the coordinating all other non-government agencies. Its implementation up to grass-root level will play a signaficant role to reduce risk and vulnerability. The writer is Deputy Director General Commandant (PRL), Ansar-VDP Academy, Safipur, Gazipur