Emergency relief

Geographically, Bangladesh is a land of disaster. Formed by a deltaic plain at the confluence of the Ganges (Padma), Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers and their tributaries, Bangladesh’s alluvial soil is highly fertile but vulnerable to flood and drought. More than 310 rivers and tributaries have made this country a land of rivers. Hills rise above the plain only in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far southeast and the Sylhet division in the northeast. Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, Bangladesh has a subtropical monsoonal climate characterized by heavy seasonal rainfall, moderately warm temperatures, and high humidity. Natural and manmade disasters such as floods including flash floods, cyclones and storm surges, tornado, river bank erosion, mild earthquake, draught, arsenic contamination, salinity intrusion, tsunami, fire, infrastructure collapse and landslides are among the hazards faced by Bangladeshis.

Climate change adds a new dimension to community risk and vulnerability. Although the magnitude of these changes may appear to be small, they could substantially increase the frequency and intensity of existing climatic events (floods, droughts, cyclones etc). Current indications are that not only will floods and cyclones become more severe, they will also start to occur outside of their “established seasons”. Events, such as drought, may not have previously occurred in some areas and may now be experienced.

Country Facts:

  1. About 68% of the country is vulnerable to flood
  2. 25-30% of the area is inundated during normal flood
  3. During 1965 to 2007 eight major cyclones hit in Bangladesh with huge number of deaths in the affected areas
  4. The super cyclone Sidr hit in Bangladesh in 15th November 2007, swept through the South-Western coastal areas affecting 30 districts with 6,770,456 people and damaged 186883 hectares of crop field
  5. Around 52% of the population of the country is engaged in agriculture and 14% is engaged in industry
  6. Per capita GDP for 2010 was US$ 685 (BBS 2011)

World Vision Bangladesh Response

In order to reduce and mitigate these disaster risks, the Humanitarian Emergency Affairs (HEA) ministry of WV Bangladesh seeks its community resilience call and aspiration through four strategic focus areas:

  • Effective emergency responses
  • Community resilience building
  • Organizational resilience building
  • Quality, accountability and learning

To focus the areas WV Bangladesh HEA’s other major objectives and activities as outlined in National Strategy 2009 – 2013 are follows:

  1. To ensure timely and accurate early warning in the event of disaster through
    • Develop early warning mechanisms among ADPs and CBOs
    • Utilize and foster local knowledge on disaster warning signals
    • Mobilize community volunteer groups for disseminating early warning information
    • Reinforce advocacy for establishment of clear and easily understood danger / mega danger level warning signals from the Govt. of Bangladesh
  2. To maintain a constant and sufficient level of preparedness through
    • Focus on community training and volunteer recruitment
    • Strengthen advocacy for family-level savings
    • Regularly maintain the ADP based and national office Disaster Preparedness Plans
    • Reinforce a pre-positioned supply network including an equipped storage capacity
    • Develop the capacities of HEA sector, Crisis Management Team, Rapid Assessment Team
    • Bolster National Office and ADP immediate emergency response funds
  3. To respond in a timely and effective manner through
    • Ensure allocation for immediate needs including emergency food and non-food items, health, water and sanitation, and shelter maintaining international standard assurance mechanisms
    • Strengthen communication and transportation systems for remote locations
    • Increase capacities for carrying out appraisals, writing of draft proposals and managing of grants
    • Assist World Vision staff to efficiently manage stresses and traumas as caregivers
    • Expand, maintain networking and strengthen existing partnerships among ADPs and others
  4. To enable communities to rehabilitate within 18-24 months of disaster through
    • Provide assistance for livelihood and basic social services
    • Ensure facilitation support and assistance for re-established community infrastructure
    • Make assurance for environmentally friendly programs approaches
    • Enhance staff capacity in proposal writing and sector specializations
    • Ensure the values of commitment, awareness, transparency and accountability for projects
    • Maintain strong coordination with government, NGOs and community-based projects
  5. To transition into long-term sustainable community development through
    • Build awareness / provide motivation among the community for preventing environmentally hazardous interventions
    • Integrate rehabilitation and risk reduction initiatives into development program design of the community and ADP design
    • Constantly review and appraise the disaster response strategy
  6. To mitigate community vulnerability to disaster through
    • Facilitate the construction of multi-purpose evacuation shelters
    • Build awareness on the importance of evacuation
    • Strengthen policy advocacy for mandatory evacuation
    • Promote resilient and alternative livelihoods and community savings as coping mechanisms
    • Build awareness / provide support for durable construction
    • Enhance community capacity for safe water protection

Key Results

  • 86 % (131680) of beneficiaries targeted through awareness program on early warning and disaster and emergency response and rehabilitation program by HEA ministry
  • 79% (13205) of people addressed with rehabilitation program
  • 31% (305) people received early warning inputs (radio, TV, hand mike etc.)
  • 12 % (1757) of people received relief goods
  • 99 % (124720) of community people including govt. staff, volunteer etc. have received training on disaster management response from ADPs of World Vision Bangladesh

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References:

  1. National Plan for Disaster Management 200-2015
  2. WV Bangladesh Annual Monitoring and Evaluation Report, 2011
  3. Country Background Note: Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs ,US Department of States
  4. Country Emergency Situation Profile :Bangladesh/WHO
  5. Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh 2010: February 2011