Implementation of Disaster Management Act

The theme of this year's International Day for Disaster Reduction (October 13, 2015) is “Knowledge for Life”. The focus of the day is on the traditional, indigenous and local knowledge which complement modern science and add to an individual's and societies' resilience. It is particularly important for Bangladesh as the country is prone to disaster and climatic events.

Recently, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by world leaders to combat poverty, inequality and climate change. The ambitious agenda addressing issues from education to the environment was finally adopted on 25 September 2015. Bangladesh made commendable progress in achieving earlier goals, namely Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Unlike MDGs, there is a specific goal on climate change in the SDGs. First target of Goal 13 (Climate Action) is to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries. There is a specific law in Bangladesh on disaster management, and raising awareness has been suggested in the law.

In 2012, the Disaster Management Act (DMA) became a piece of law after a long collective effort by the government and civil society actors to create a legislative tool under which disaster and emergency management will be undertaken. It has placed mandatory obligations and responsibilities on ministries and committees, and ensures transparency and accountability in the overall disaster management system.

National Disaster Management Council has been formed, and responsibility and functions of the Council has been described in Section 6 of the DMA. It includes providing necessary directives or consultation to concern authority and persons to arrange seminars and workshops in order to increase awareness about all concern issues, activities, directives, programmes, laws, rules and policies related to disaster.

Indigenous and local knowledge are crucial to decrease vulnerability and boost resilience among local communities. Full implementation of DMA would help in reducing risk of disaster in a disaster-prone country like Bangladesh.

The writer is a human rights worker.