Awareness, prompt action can cut casualties: Experts

Widespread awareness campaigns and prompt response in times of natural disasters can greatly reduce casualties, experts said yesterday.
When cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh's coast in 2007, more than 600 people of Southkhali union in Bagerhat died mainly because they did not go to cyclone shelters in time, they told a discussion at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.
However, several years of rigorous awareness campaigns by Jagrata Juba Shangha (JJS) and Southkhali Union Disaster Management Committee (SUDMC) have successfully made the Southkhali people better prepared for natural calamities, they added.
JJS and SUDMC jointly organised the programme on "Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives of Southkhali Community".
"The impact of our campaigns were felt when the tropical storm Mahasen struck the country in 2013," said ATM Zakir Hossain, executive director of JJS.
More than 200 community volunteers evacuated about 60 percent of more than 35,000 residents of the union within a matter of hours, he said.
They also sent alerts and information to the people and collaborated with international humanitarian bodies to ensure a coordinated response, he added. "While there were 11 cyclone shelters in Southkhali in 2007, now there are 28."
In a presentation, SUDMC member Emdadul Huq said the area needed at least four new shelters and approach roads to nine existing ones.
Student volunteers of SUMDC staged a play on creating awareness about disasters.
JJS is supported by Shapla Neer, a Japanese development organisation.
Muhammad Abdul Wazed, director general, Department of Disaster Management, and Prof Masaaki Ohashi, council member of Shapla Neer, among others, spoke.