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Activities of Investigation on Disaster Damage in Asia

Field Survey on Bangladesh Cyclone

From 27 November to 3 December 2007, the Asian Disaster Reduction
Center (ADRC) conducted an emergency field survey on Cyclone Sidr, which
struck southern Bangladesh on the night of 15 November 2007. The results ofthis survey are presented below.
Cyclone Sidr, with wind speeds up to 250 kilometers per hour, emerged in
the Bay of Bengal on 11 November, made landfall near Patargata at about
18:30 on 15 November, and swept through the country in a northeasterlydirection until it dissipated on 16
November. According to the situation
report released by the Ministry of FoodandDisaster
ManagementofBangladesh on 26 December 2007, it
resulted in more than 4,234 dead andmissing, affected 8,923,259 people, anddamaged (either totally or partially)
more than 1,518,942 homes.
Cyclones struck Bangladesh in 1970,
causing about 300,000 deaths, and in
1991, causing about 140,000 deaths. Since 1991, international assistance has
been used to promote several disaster prevention measures, including theconstruction of cyclone shelters, the development of an early warning system,and the improvement of riverbanks.
The ADRC conducted a survey focused on (1) early warning systems(issuance of alerts, information dissemination to communities), (2) evacuation
conditions facing residents, (3) the effectiveness of cyclone evacuation
shelters, and (4) the needs and challenges facing afflicted areas with regard
to recovery. Since Sidr's point of landfall, along the southern coast of Barguna,was close to that of the 1970 cyclone, the ADRC survey compared the damage
caused by Sidr to that caused by previous cyclones. Tremendous support forthis survey was provided by the Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Centre.
The results are as follows.
Because the government and the Red Crescent Society developed anearly warning system after the 1991 cyclone, warnings were able to beissued to municipalities and residents two to three days before the cyclone hit,and even up until the afternoon of the cyclone. However, most residents
started to evacuate when the winds began to pick up.
Some farmers did not evacuate because they did not want to leave theirlivestock, their sole source of income. Others remained in their homes
because the false tsunami warning issued in September (after the earthquakein Indonesia) made them skeptical of the cyclone warning.
Since the 1991 cyclone, about 2,000 evacuation shelters have been set up,
mainly in the coastal areas, but these could not handle the actual number ofevacuees. The shelters the ADRC visited were designed to house 500, but124

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there were about 2,000 evacuees. Everyone survived, but was left standing
throughout the night.
There were earthen riverbanks along the coast five to six meters in height.
They likely mitigated some of the storm surge
damage, but sections that were destroyed
produced serious damage.
After the 1970 cyclone, forestation efforts
were made in the coastal areas. The forestation
zones were found to be effective against tidal
waves and strong winds.
Though Cyclone Sidr was more powerful than
the 1970 cyclone, which caused 300,000 deaths and moved through similarareas, it caused far fewer deaths. This is attributed to effects of such disasterprevention measures as the establishment of shelters and riverbanks, and theimplementation of warning and evacuation programs.
The challenges for the future are to educate people about the importance ofdisaster warnings, increase the number of shelters, create a small hill (killa)
near the cyclone shelter for livestock, quickly repair damaged riverbanks androads, and employ disaster victims in the above-mentioned recovery projects
to support their independence.

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