Necessity for 'culture of disaster preparedness'
International Day for Disaster Reduction is being observed today with the slogan "Making Children and Young People Partners in Disaster Risk Reduction." The main motive is to involve the young generation in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) initiatives so that they can have a long-term effect. The Bangladesh government and NGOs have taken up programmes to raise awareness throughout the country.
From various aspects, this Day is very important for us. We have taken the Day as an opportunity to reach every corner of Bangladesh with disaster preparedness messages to students for wider dissemination and long-term effectiveness of the knowledge. The main aim is to have a more prepared and resilient Bangladesh.
According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2010, an average of 8,241 people died each year in 244 cases of extreme weather conditions in Bangladesh, with the damage amounting to over $2 billion a year and a GDP loss of 1.81%, during 1990-2008 (The Daily Star, October 7). Day by day, disasters are going to be the main agent of human crisis and also economic threat worldwide. In 2010 only, 385 natural disasters killed more than 297,000 people worldwide, affected over 217 million others and caused $123.9 billion damages. 131 countries were hit by these natural disasters, though only 10 accounted for 120 of the 385 disasters (31.2%). (ADSR: 2010)
Gradually, our vulnerability is increasing. Frequent earthquakes in India, China and Japan, flood in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, drought in China, series of storms in the Philippines have added a new dimension of thinking for disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region.
The people of Bangladesh have been living with disasters like flood, cyclone, and river bank erosion for hundreds of years, but the recent tremors have added a new dimension in the area of disaster management. Disasters with which people are more acquainted cause less damage, but an earthquake can cause havoc as people have not experienced it.
It is a positive sign that the people have become sensitised on this issue after observing the recent tremors. Now it is high time we prepare the people and the institutions to face them, for which flow of information is mandatory. If people get the proper information, and are aware of the ferocity of earthquake, they will obviously be conscious while making buildings.
History and statistics show how even rich and better prepared countries have been shattered by earthquakes. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that several million earthquakes occur each year. Many go undetected because they hit remote areas or have very small magnitudes. In 2009, 22 earthquakes killed 1,888 persons, made 3.2 million victims and caused $6.2 billion of damages, according to EM-DAT -- the OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database.
In 2010, 25 earthquakes caused 226,735 fatalities, 7.2 million victims and $46.2 billion of damages. The historical database from USGS counted 74 earthquakes stronger than magnitude 8 between the China (Shensi) earthquake of January 1556 and the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 -- including the Lisbon quake of November 1755.
Now let us think about our capital city; what will happen if we are faced with an earthquake of magnitude 7? This is a city of more than one crore people and thousands of risky buildings. If these buildings collapse, there will be no way other than declaring Dhaka a dead city. We do not have the capacity for either search and rescue or treatment of the affected people. And even debris removing from Dhaka will not be possible. We don't have either the place to remove the debris or much infrastructural support (road and vehicle) to do it.
We talk about decentralisation, but neither the government nor the non-government institutions are moving a bit from their earlier attitude. Why are the banks so prompt in investing in the housing sector for Dhaka but not for the other cities? Why does the government not initiate resettlement of factories and industries out of Dhaka? And why is Rajuk not able to persuade people to comply with the Building Codes? And also why are the people not aware of the risk of earthquake? We are building our homes for our sons and daughters by spending crores of taka, but are we not endangering their lives by letting them live in unsafe constructions? These are all crucial questions now.
According to Margareta Wahlström, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction: "In earthquake zones, three factors affect our degree of risk: changes to our natural environment, the quality of the built environment around us, and whether awareness and knowledge is widespread enough for us to modify our behaviour in response to these factors." To her, "the key to surviving high magnitude quakes is to live and work in seismically safe buildings, while being aware of how nature around us can also change."
So, two things are important here, living in safe places and being aware. And here, of course, we need to have a simultaneous two-way approach (top down and bottom up); the government will strengthen its institutions and, at the same time, the people need to be more conscious so that they can take at least some non-structural mitigation measures and restrain themselves from constructing risky buildings.
On this day, we the people, the government, NGOs, media and all concerned, must vow that we all will work for establishing a culture of disaster preparedness in every corner of the country.
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