Is Bangladesh Prepared For The Next Cyclone?

Though solid preparedness for a disaster is a must, but the sad truth is that people of Bangladesh mostly rely on God and their own intuition when it comes about natural disasters. For a playground of disasters like Bangladesh, cyclone is one of the most perilous one.

Tropical cyclone, also called typhoon or hurricane, an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans and is characterized by low atmospheric pressure, high winds, and heavy rain. Drawing energy from the sea surface and maintaining its strength as long as it remains over warm water, a tropical cyclone generates winds that exceed 119 km (74 miles) per hour. It is the lack of education and acknowledgement that leads the people of a floodplain country like us to heavy tolls of loss.

“The deadliest of all decade's Bangladeshi cyclone SIDR which was concentrated in November 7,2007 raked across the river delta coastal area of the country, packing winds of more than 150 mph, killing thousands and displacing nearly a million from their homes. While the Bangladeshi people endure an annual storm cycle each year, Cyclone Sidr is thought to be the most severe event in the last decade according to government officials there, with agency reports stating that 10,000 people may have died. The storm affected one-third of Bangladesh's 64 Districts.

People lost their loved ones , their only land, they had to live under the sky fighting with all the waterborne diseases and drought. After all these devastating calamity Bangladesh government has taken severe measures along with it's Arm force, Navy, Sparrso, Redcrescent, Brac, Grameen Bank, CPP and National Disaster Management Council, Disaster.

Our government conducts warning system, search and rescue, evacuation, sheltering, first aid, relief distribution and rehabilitation activities. They evacuate people by moving from here to there by mike announcement.

There are shelter centres created in nearby schools, religious constructions and disaster shelter centre. But still the toll of loss keeps increasing every time a cyclone hits not only because our people are illiterate but also for some major problems in our cyclone evacuation system.

From our university employee Aumg Chathoi Marma's practical observations and sufferings we came to know "The evacuation system fail to reach at most nook and corner of disaster prone areas and even their words are incomprehensible. After the cyclone strikes, there stays thousands of victims but the number of relief is poor. We try to adjust within the small share of relief".

What research says is that even at the time of the disaster they tend to cling to their only cattle believing in their own intuition not knowing what to do; which thrusts them to absolute danger. Moreover lack of trained people, inability to connect with rural people, lack of enough relief makes the situation worse.

To mitigate the contaminated fatal diseases, loss of millions of dollar worth crops, life and whole devastation of both our and adjoining countries; many more effective objectives should be implemented.

Some small initiatives taken before disaster can minimize some dreadful losses such as: giving people basic knowledge of health and sanitization is a mandatory one. We have to encourage people not to take disasters like cyclone as an every year's common phenomenon.

We have to teach our mass people as well as thousands of volunteer with technological support. This should be both about before cyclone preparation and after cyclone preparation including alert call before disaster. Mobile operators little initiative can bring some bigger change such as when weather forecast department comes to know about upcoming calamities,they can directly contact with all present mobile operator companies.

As because now a days, a day laborer to a businessman uses mobile phone. Mobile operator companies can easily aware each and every people; aware of a disaster and mitigate the loss of a disaster to an extent. It can infact halve the whole loss. And to add to utmost benefit for mass people, the forecasting message should be simple using local dialects.

There should be telecasts of total disaster effect, programme and escape plans in television by the initiative of government. People should be trained to do zero afforestation on embankments.

Most importantly infrastructure of our shelter centre has to be firm enough to endure the intensity of every storm because this would be the last piece of hope and life for our country people. And for the after relief, keeping dry foods, and stick bamboo and saw for snake, keeping emergency contacts and first aid kit, portable stove can be helpful.

Being beware of fallen power lines one has to disconnect electric lines. Checking gas leaks also gets included in this category. Besides one should not go for rumors, we have to very careful about actual official forecasts.

And last but not the least one is to help each other with all their heart. Bangladesh will likely face strong cyclones and other disasters in the future. But by implementing benevolent initiatives on the sector of preparedness; Bangladesh can overcome cyclone or any other disasters with bravery.