Sheikh Iraj

Due to the geographical location of Bangladesh, every year it faces different natural disasters. It is not possible to stop every disaster from taking place. However, loss to life and property can be minimised. Just by knowing how to perform basic first aid can reduce the number of fatalities. Thus, organising workshops, training and awareness programmes on what to do in case of a natural or manmade disaster can play a major role in an emergency and mitigate sufferings.
Tropical storms, cyclones, tornadoes, nor’westers (kal-baishakhi), tidal surges, floods, droughts, river erosion, landslides, and earthquakes are some of the natural hazards that we come across in our country. Then there are manmade tragedies, like the Rana Plaza factory collapse and Nimtoli fire incident, which constantly remind us why preparing for such disasters is vital. However, for many, particularly youths, natural disasters are something that they have only read in textbooks or seen on TV.
“I believe most students know what to do in case of an earthquake or a fire. But we don’t know much about other natural hazards because we never encountered them. Of course, I can name some natural or manmade disasters, but I learned about them in textbooks,” Kazi Samin, a school student, told this correspondent.”Today, we can get any information on the internet and most students have access to the net. If a cartoon or animation film is made on this topic, then students will be more interested to learn about it,” Samin added.
The University of Dhaka offers a two-year Masters course on disaster management. Students in the MA course get a chance to participate in workshops on natural disasters. Sanjoy Roy, a student of the university, said: “Dhaka University (DU) has a number of clubs which work with different issues. But they do not work directly on fighting any form of disasters. Many of us believe that the level of awareness regarding natural or manmade disasters is not high enough. We have to understand that we are in constant threat of a major earthquake.”
Ashique Mustafa, another DU student, said: “Many students don’t show any interest in learning about disasters. The main reason for this is that we live in Dhaka and we are cut off from the rest of the country, in a way. We come across newspaper or TV news if any disaster occurs, but in reality, we don’t learn how to tackle such situations. We see experts talking on talk shows about what to do, but we don’t get much practical training.”
“March 10 was National Disaster Preparedness Day, but if a survey is conducted, you will see that many university students didn’t have a clue about the day. I believe the government is doing its best to create awareness through textbooks and publicity. But I believe university clubs should be more aware of the issue _ just bringing out rallies is not going to create mass awareness about disaster management and prevention.”
Members of the Social Welfare Club of United International University (UIU) organise different types of programmes throughout the year. Winter cloth distribution, organising workshops with the help of local fire departments, raising funds to buy relief for flood-affected people etc, are some of their major activities
Ahsan Habib, president of the UIU club, said: “We were not able to do anything during the Rana Plaza disaster or Nimtoli fire incident and we feel sorry for that. For a university club, it’s not always easy to raise funds or organise regular programmes. Although our parents support us, at the end of the day, we have to study a lot and unless you have a job not everyone can contribute with money. Still we try to do the best we can, we distribute new clothes among some orphans during Eid. I believe it’s always better to have proper knowledge about natural disasters and ways to handle them. Our club issues a certificate to our regular members.” The club started its journey in 2011 and has 60 active members at present.
Eastern University Social Welfare Club is one of the most active clubs of the university. Throughout the year, they take part in various types of humanitarian activities. They distribute clothes during winter, and they collect donations and send relief to flood-affected areas. Abul Kalam Tuhin, president of the club, said: “We used to organise a number of different programmes, but it’s not always possible to do them on a regular basis. For example, we used to coordinate with the local fire service and organise workshops. These days, they are toobusy, so we can’t organise many such workshops.”
Different government and non-government organisations, university clubs and youth organisations do arrange various types of training programmes. Through those, youths can learn what to do in case of a disaster.
Mohammad Shah Kamal, Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told Y&I:”We regularly organise different types of training and awareness programmes on disaster prevention. Students from class 3 to12 learn about different kinds of natural disasters in their school textbooks. So from an early age, students get a clear idea on what to do in a crisis situation and save themselves. On March 10, National Disaster Preparedness Day was observed and we carried out different activities throughout the country. Many non-government organisations work with us. They run simulation programmes in different parts of the country with our help.” The theme of this year’s day was ‘Disaster preparedness round the clock brings sustainable development’.
Bangladesh Scouts conducts courses on disaster management, with funding from the United Nations Development Programme. It is a five-day course. In every course, 40 participants, including 32 students and eight teachers, take part. Scouts learn about different disasters during the course. Previously, thunderstorm was not identified as a natural disaster, but today it is as many lives are lost during thunderstorms every year.
Mohammad Golam Mostafa, Director, Community Development and Help of Bangladesh Scouts, said:  “We are thinking of signing an agreement with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief. The plan is to create 200 volunteers in every district of the country. That way, in case of a disaster, those volunteers can respond as soon as possible. We train our Scouts to handle crisis situations. In some recent incidents like Rana Plaza and Nimtoli, our Scouts participated in the rescue operation. At Rana Plaza, they were in charge of handing over dead bodies. The majority of Scouts are within 25 years of age and they bravely handle such situations. From May 4 to 7, we are going to participate in the National Disaster Management Camp at Sylhet.”
“There is a wrong notion that Old Dhaka is vulnerable to sustain more damage if a strong earthquake strikes. Actually, it’s the other way around, many of the buildings in new Dhaka are made on filled-up ponds and lakes. That means they don’t have solid soil underneath, compared to Old Dhaka buildings. I believe today’s youths are more aware of natural and manmade disasters than ever before. When I was a student, most of us had no clue about what a disaster is. Today, the government is doing a great deal of work in spreading awareness,” Mostafa added.          
 Critical Link is a non-profit organisation. Besides other activities, it provides training on fire safety and earthquake management. The training is completely free and any student can take part. Every month, it organises at least one training programme and informs the public about the date and time of the session via social media. On average, 20 new participants take part in every session. The organisation is also working with road safety. It has a mobile application through which anyone can provide information and ask for help if they are in a road accident. Rahat Hossain, programme director of Critical Link, said: “The organisation has 700 young active members. Once informed about a road accident via phone or the mobile application, the volunteers respond immediately. Critical Link also has an awareness programme, named Junior First Responder Programme, through which we teach students about different types of safety measures.”
Bithun Tasnuva Mazid, senior manager at BRAC’s  Disaster Management and Climate Change programme, told Y&I: “Building capacity of BRAC staff (at head office and field level), partner organisations and community participants through training on humanitarian aid work and community based disaster risk reduction has been a priority for the Disaster Management and Climate Change (DMCC) programme since 2008. These trainings have been proven to be effective in bringing communities together during emergencies, such as cyclones, floods and fire incidents. We focus on collecting the community learning and indigenous knowledge, research on them, apply innovative technology and document them, so we can apply them in future interventions, and transfer the knowledge to the community and partner organisations.”
 “We do not have direct training for student groups. Students enrolled in disaster management courses, at private and public universities in Bangladesh and sometimes, from other countries, join DMCC programmes for short periods, as interns or trainees, to get hands-on experience of working in the field in disaster management activities. Our emergency unit is a platform for them to gain practical knowledge of working in disaster-prone areas and learn to cope with the challenges that exist in our country,” Mazid added.
 Mohashin Reza, recruitment specialist at Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) said: “Our activities fall under the learning and development category. Our volunteers get basic training on security. We have two types of volunteers, professional and youth volunteers. Our youth volunteers are not students, they are mostly fresh graduates or interns. We have youth volunteer projects, like ICS (International Citizen Service). We receive funds from UKAID for that project and as part of it, every four months, 18 to 25 foreign volunteers visit our country. The volunteers are mostly young people. They work in the rural communities of Dinajpur, Bagerhat and Khulna. Before they start working, they receive training from us on how to adjust to the climate, what kinds of natural disasters they might encounter and what to do in that particular situation.”       
 
Photos: Courtesy, file