Disaster risk management centre launched by DCCI, SUPER Project

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and the Strengthening Urban Public-Private Programming for Earthquake Resilience Project (SUPER Project) have jointly established South Asia's first disaster risk management centre titled "Private Sector Emergency Operation Center (POC)" in Bangladesh.

Enamur Rahman, state minister for disaster management and relief, launched the centre today.

This emergency operation centre can play a vital role in the fight against any disaster, the state minister said.

The government has taken the initiative to establish a "National Emergency Operation Centre" in Tejgaon area with Chinese technical and financial assistance, he said.

"Over 42 lakh volunteers have already been trained and equipped with necessary instruments to mitigate the losses of disaster."

Rizwan Rahman, DCCI president, said: "To ensure risk-free industrialisation and investment, we should focus on risk resilience infrastructure system."

He stressed the need for changing the traditional mindset on disaster risk management and becoming more aware of its impact.

He later shed light on increased involvement of the private sector in this regard.

"Any disaster hampers the industrialisation and economic growth. So this is the duty of all of us irrespective of business or non-business sector to respond to this critical issue."

"Bangladesh is now a role model for disaster management and the participation of private sector reflects the preparedness to create awareness in this sector," said Md Mohsin, secretary for disaster and relief.

"Private sector should allocate more fund for research on disaster risk management and also to create a database of skilled manpower for disaster management," said Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh.