While addressing an event to mark International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said she wants Bangladesh to be prepared in such a way so that it can face any sort of disaster whether it is a manmade or natural one.
Intense natural disaster has been a part of our lives since millennia. Constant natural calamities in the country have been observed over the years and with climate change across the globe, the natural disasters seem to be getting more powerful. In contrast, Bangladesh has advanced quite a lot in disaster preparedness and the country is considered as a global example of disaster preparedness. The paradigm of disaster management has shifted and our knowledge about it has also changed over time but still we need to do a lot more to take our disaster preparedness to a higher level.
We need to constantly develop our disaster
management capacity to cope with
the changing nature of disasters
As the nature of disasters is changing, we need to find innovative solutions to effectively tackle calamities. It is not always possible to predict a disaster but if we take adequate preparation we can certainly minimize loss and damage caused by a disaster.
Bangladesh was previously known for rural hazards especially flood, but these days urban hazards have become more frequent and harsher. Living in this overcrowded jungle of concrete, it is horrifying to imagine how would this town survive if an earthquake takes place? Would all the dwellers get to evacuate? Is this town ready to tackle the consequences of a disaster like what we witnessed recently in Chawkbazar and Nimtali?
It is high time that we improve our capacity of disaster management in urban areas. Also, we need to constantly develop our overall disaster management capacity to cope with the changing nature of disasters.
