Disaster risks loom large

It is impossible to preclude nature's fury when it strikes in the form of cyclone, hurricane, tidal surge, flood and earthquake. In recent years, imminence of deadly disasters has been aggravated either by natural factors such as geological, hydrometeorological and biological changes or by social factors such as unplanned urbanisation and indiscriminate manipulation of natural resources, not to mention the excesses of the industrial revolution in the West precipitating climate change.
It is, however, possible to significantly reduce the loss of life and damage of property and infrastructure by adopting certain measures to promote the resilience of nations and communities to disasters. With this vision in mind the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) is observing the International Day for Disaster Reduction today to further strengthen the institutional as well as infrastructural basis of the disaster-prone countries for reducing disaster risks. Such an occasion aptly puts the status of Bangladesh in matters of tackling disaster risks into its proper perspective.
Bangladesh, as was manifest over the last two decades, ranks high at risk mostly for tropical cyclones and flood, and also for nor'westers and tornadoes, earthquakes, riverbank erosion, salinity erosion, drought, arsenic contamination and landslides. According to data available from the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters, from 1979 to 2008 over 191,415 people were killed and about 229 million directly affected by natural hazards in Bangladesh while the estimated economic loss was about $5.6 billion.
According to a World Resources Report titled Bangladesh's Comprehensive Approach to Disaster Management, climate change will increase the frequency and severity of many natural hazards especially cyclones and floods. It is against this backdrop that Bangladesh's preparedness for and resilience to disasters have to be measured.
However, in view of the initiatives taken so far, Bangladesh seems to lag far behind other disaster-prone countries, in terms of policymaking and sustainable programmes to strengthen preparedness and promote resilience of the affected people. The establishment of Disaster Management Bureau in 1993 and the subsequent issuing of the Standing Orders on Disaster in 1997 defining duties of different government bodies have ensured a strong institutional basis both on national and local levels and provided a seemingly all-inclusive guideline for disaster risk reduction and emergency management activities. However, these policies utterly fall short of protecting massive infrastructure and private and public properties from being damaged, especially when it comes to the vulnerability of the 12 districts in the coastal areas. The cyclone Sidr killed 3,363 humans and 4,62,815 cattle; destroyed approximately 5,64,967 houses and partly damaged 9,57,110; permanently damaged 7,43,321 acres of crop areas and partly 17,30,316 acres.
In the span of less than two years, Aila, which struck with a tidal surge of up to 22 feet, killed 190 humans and 100,000 cattle; permanently damaged 350,000 acres of crop land; and crippled infrastructure irrevocably by breaking the embankments in such way that large areas still remain flooded. So while loss of lives has significantly scaled down, damage of property and infrastructure has increased, which has resulted in large-scale migration to cities causing in its turn an unexpected rise in unemployment and crimes in urban areas. A well-thought-out approach to disaster risk reduction is thus an overriding issue, without addressing which the goal of sustainable development cannot be fulfilled.
That is not to say, there has not been any progress. In fact, the ministry of food and disaster management has shown substantial progress in the construction of cyclone and flood shelters not only at the district levels but also at Upazila, Union Parishad and village levels -- a success which accounts for the significant reduction in loss of lives during the last two cyclones. Still, the present number of the shelters is inadequate to address the need of 30 million people and is also marked by some basic flaws with regard to gender sensitivity, lack of health support and provision for cattle, poultry and household assets. Even so, the ministry along with the DMB has successfully established an institutional basis comprising eight national bodies and five sub-national bodies ensuring authorised local governing bodies to implement disaster management and act promptly in times of emergency.
Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP), being conducted in two phases in association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other international aid agencies seems to constitute the most productive project. Its first phase was completed in 2009. Besides policymaking and research, CDMP provides technical and logistic support to almost all concerned government bodies and it is precisely with this support that the government has advanced a lot in matters of cyclone, storm and flood forecasting.
However, in spite of so many activities of so many national and local governing bodies, repair and renovation of the embankments which fall under the purview of the Water Development Board have not seen any progress yet. This failure raises serious questions about the capacity of recovering, leave alone promoting, resilience.
Despite some progress in reducing disaster risks, a substantial lack in putting up necessary infrastructure on the part of the government is too conspicuous to be overlooked. Bizarrely alarming is the fact that even massive disasters leaving hundreds of people dead in their wake cannot propel the government into action. Take for example the Nimtoli blaze which occurred as a result of illegal storing of chemical explosives in one of the most crowded areas of the city, and the recent tremors, the last originating in Sikkim on September 18 being the most menacing.
Both the disasters, one manmade and the other naturally triggered, have to do directly with violation of the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC), which clearly mandates that all residential areas be devoid of storage of toxic or explosive chemicals and all buildings be constructed in line with the code so as to scale down the devastation caused by a quake and its after-effects. Considering Bangladesh's vulnerability to so many hazards, the government must review its policies and take immediate actions to put up necessary infrastructure and enforce the BNBC.

The writer is Feature Writer, The Daily Star.