Cyclone Preparedness Program, Bangladesh

Natural disasters are common in Bangladesh, especially along its 710 km coast. After the devastating cyclone of 1970 which took half a million lives, the United Nations requested the League of Red Cross (now the International Federation) to undertake a leading role in pre-disaster planning for the country, and in 1972, The Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) was formed. In June 1973, the Government of Bangladesh undertook the financial responsibility for some of the program's recurring expenses, setting up a program management mechanism by creating a Policy Committee and Implementation Board.

CPP relies on technical skills and volunteers’ commitment to ensure that potential victims of an approaching cyclone are given sufficient warning, enabling them to move to safe-sites. Meteorological data is collected from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), which issues regular bulletins that are transmitted to the six zonal offices and the 30 upazila (sub-district) level offices over high frequency (HF) radio. The upazila office in turn, passes it to unions (village level) through very high frequency (VHF) radios. The unit team spreads out in villages and issues cyclone warnings. About 33,120 trained volunteers participate in the program. In 1991 and 1997, cyclones killed 23 volunteers on duty.

The program has a network of radio communication facilities along the coast, all linked to the communication center at its Dhaka head office. The network comprises HF/VHF radios which cover most cyclone-prone areas. CPP now operates 151 HF/VHF radio stations, of which 60 are located in cyclone shelters built by the BDRCS in high-risk areas.

The program is implemented in 30 upazilas in 259 unions  divided into 2,760 units. Each unit serves one or two villages with a population of about 2,000 to 3,000. Ten male and two female volunteers are recruited from each unit. In each unit the 10 male volunteers are divided into five groups, to discharge the following responsibilities.

1        Warning

2        Shelter

3        Rescue

4        First aid and

5        Food and clothing

The two female volunteers work among the women, providing first aid and raising awareness.

Volunteers get comprehensive training in cyclones and their characteristics, warning signals and their dissemination, evacuation, shelter, rescue, first aid and relief operation.
Implementing training is always a big challenge due to an inadequate number of trainers, and time and funds. A strategy to "train volunteers by trained-volunteers" was introduced to replace the traditional training method of training. Training of Trainers was implemented, and 157 volunteers completed the course and became community trainers.