BANGLADESHI.

Natural hazards in Bangladesh

1.1 Natural hazards likely to affect the country
The cyclones and floods pose the greatest risk to Bangladesh on acountry level. Sub nationally, the northern and eastern regions of thecountry are susceptible to earthquakes while the southeast isparticularly vulnerable to cyclones, floods, droughts and earthquake.
Bangladesh is also vulnerable to other natural and man-made hazards,
such as river bank erosion, tornadoes, Tsunami, the high arsenic
contents of ground water, water logging, water and soil salinity, etc.
Bangladesh is also at a great risk from global climate change impacts
because of its very low elevation and exposure to various climate related
hazards. Although the magnitude of these changes may appear to besmall, they could substantially increase the frequency and intensity ofexisting climatic events, such as floods, droughts, cyclones etc.
1.2 Recent major disasters
The following table shows recent major disasters in Bangladesh:
Year
Disaster
Death1988
Flood2373
1988
Cyclone5704
1989
Drought800
1991
Cyclone138,868
1996
Tornado545
1997
Cyclone550
1998
Flood1050
2004
Flood747
II.

Disaster Management System

2.1 Administrative system
Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM) is the national
focal point for disaster management in Bangladesh. It manages disasters
through its three agencies: Disaster Management Bureau (DMB),
Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation (DRR), and Directorate Generalof Food. It is assisted by other government agencies, such as Fire
Services and Civil Defence Department, Disaster Emergency Centre of
Armed Forces Division, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD),
Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC), Bangladesh Police,Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP),etc. It has technical and scientific partnership with Space Research andRemote Sensing Organization (SPARSO), Geological Survey ofBangladesh, Centre for Environmental and Geological Information
System (CEGIS), Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO),

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Institute of Water Modeling (IWM), Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology (BUET), etc. At the field level, the Office ofthe Deputy Commissioner at the district level, the Office of the Upazila
Nirbahi Officer at the Sub-district level and the Union Parishad at thelowest level of the administration play crucial roles in disastermanagement.
2.2 Legal system
While Allocation of Business of the Rules of Business of the Government
assigns roles and responsibilities to various ministries of the government,
the Standing Order on Disasters (SOD) assigns roles and responsibilities
to relevant government agencies as well as to Disaster Management
Committees (DMCs) at all levels. The enactment of a disastermanagement law is in progress.
2.3 Structure of disaster management
Bangladesh has an elaborate system of disaster management. A series ofinter-related institutions, at both national and sub-national levels havebeen created to ensure effective planning and coordination of disastermanagement and emergency response events.

Organizational structure at the national leveli. National Disaster Management Council (NDMC): It is headed by
the Hon'ble Prime Minister to formulate and review the disastermanagement policies and issue directives to all concerns.
ii. Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Co-ordination Committee(IMDMCC): It is headed by the Hon'ble Minister in charge of theMinistry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM) to implement
disaster management policies and decisions of NDMC / Government.
iii. National Disaster Management Advisory Committee (NDMAC): Itis to be headed by an experienced person having been nominated by
the Hon'ble Prime Minister.
iv. Cyclone Preparedness Program Implementation Board (CPPIB): It
is headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Food and Disaster
Management to review the preparedness activities in the face ofinitial stage of an impending cyclone.
v. Disaster Management Training and Public Awareness Building
Task Force (DMTATF): It is headed by the Director General ofDisaster Management Bureau (DMB) to co-ordinate the disaster
related training and public awareness activities of the Government,
NGOs and other organizations.
vi. Focal Point Operation Coordination Group of Disaster
Management (FPOCG): It is headed by the Director General of DMB
toreview
andco-ordinate
theactivitiesofvarious
departments/agencies related to disaster management and also toreview the Contingency Plan prepared by concerned departments.

2vii. NGO Coordination Committee on Disaster Management(NGOCC): It is headed by the Director General of DMB to review andco-ordinate the activities of concerned NGOs in the country.
viii. Committee for Speedy Dissemination of Disaster Related
Warning/ Signals (CSDDWS): It is headed by the Director General ofDMB to examine, ensure and find out the ways and means for thespeedy dissemination of warning/ signals among the people.

Organizational structure at sub-national levels
i. District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC): It is headedby the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to co-ordinate and review thedisaster management activities at the district level.
ii. Upazila Disaster Management Committee (UZDMC): It is headedby the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) to co-ordinate and review thedisaster management activities at the Upazila level.
iii. Union Disaster Management Committee (UDMC): It is headed bythe Chairman of the Union Parishad to co-ordinate, review andimplement the disaster management activities of the concerned union.
iv. Pourashava Disaster Management Committee (PDMC): It isheaded by Chairman of Pourashava (municipality) to co-ordinate,
review and implement the disaster management activities within its
area of jurisdiction.

v. City Corporation Disaster Management Committee (CCDMC): It
is headed by the Mayor of City Corporations to co-ordinate, review
and implement the disaster management activities within its area ofjurisdiction.
The SOD provides detailed roles and responsibilities of all disastermanagement committees, relevant ministries, divisions, departments
and agencies at all levels for normal period risk reduction and during
emergency response periods.
2.4 Priority on disaster risk management
The government acknowledges the need for disaster risk reduction as
opposed to the earlier concepts of responding after a disaster, as anecessary as well as a cost-effective approach. Thus priority has been
accorded to focus on community level preparedness, response, recovery
and rehabilitation. Programme to train people living in disaster prone
areas for improving their capability to cope with natural disasters ishighlighted.
Bangladesh has created a simplistic model to guide the design of disastermanagement programmes, including development or review of policy andtraining course material. The model has three key elements and ensuresthat the move to a more comprehensive risk reduction culture remains
central to all efforts.
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(1)Defining the risk environment – This element of the model
promotes the use of scientific analysis (including climate change
impacts) as the basis for accurately determining the future risk
environment relative to all hazards, all sectors and all geographicalareas. Bangladesh has adopted the process outlined in theInternational Risk Management Standard AS/NZS: 4360-1999 toguide all community risk assessments.
(2)
Managing the risk environment – Promotes the design of risk
reduction strategies (Community Based Adaptation Programmes) as
an outcome of the risk assessment process. This ensures Prevention,Preparedness, Response and Recovery programmes are multi hazard
focused and that thy move from being hazard generic in nature to risk
specific. This will enable communities to better understand theirchanging risk environment and thus become more resilient throughproactive risk reduction efforts.
(3)
Responding to the threat environment – This involves responding
to an actual threat situation. It helps Bangladesh disastermanagement officials to clearly articulate the difference between risk
reduction and emergency response and how accurately defining risk
environments can influence and enhance emergency response systems
and decisions.
III.

Disaster Management Plan

1. Sort of plan
The MoFDM Corporate Plan: Framework for Action 2005 – 2009. This
document sets out the priorities and broad strategies for achieving
reform within the disaster management sector and ensures that thereare strong linkages with the priorities of the government in respect tothe achievement of goals associated with national (PRSP) andinternational drivers such as the MDGs, WCDR and ISDR.
Each of the three operational agencies (Disaster Management Bureau,
Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation, Directorate General of Food) ofthe Ministry have prepared 2-3 year Strategic Plans based on theCorporate Plan and an Operations Plan detailing the priorities for eachtwelve month period. These plans are used to assist the MoFDM and itsagencies to formulate collaborative partnerships, particularly withNGOs, for sustainable delivery of services relative to each strategy.
2. Legal basis
This is an administrative document. It is expected to get legal coverage
under the draft disaster management act.
3. Date of creation of the plan
In March, 2005 the MoFDM launched its Corporate Plan.
4.

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The Plan recognizes that there are many interdependent elements thatmake up an effective disaster management system. These elements arelisted below as six strategic focus areas. The critical factor is for each ofthese focus areas to be viewed as being individual inputs to a bigger
picture with the outputs of one or more elements, being inputs to otherfocus area programmes.
Focus Area 1: Professionalising the disaster management
systemFocus Area 2: Mainstreaming of risk management programming(partnership development)
Focus Area 3: Strengthening of community institutional mechanisms(community empowerment)
Focus Area 4: Expanding Risk Reduction programming across a
broader range of hazards.
Focus Area 5: Strengthening emergency response systems
Focus Area 6: Maintaining and strengthening the national foodsecurity system - with a focus on ensuring accessto sustainable food supplies.
IV. Budget size on national level
Annual budget for the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management isabout US$ 500 million.
V.
Progress and Situation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA)
Bangladesh has established the national platform for disaster risk
reduction. Bangladesh was the first country to initiate a strategicplanning process in line with the HFA, when MoFDM Corporate Plan:
Framework for Action 1005-2009 was launched in March 2005.
Subsequently, three agencies of MoFDM have published their strategicplans, and the development of annual operational plans is underway.
Government of Bangladesh has also launched a Risk Reduction
Programme for people at risk in disaster prone areas of the country.
Under the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, theMoFDM is spearheading the implementation of the HFA in five focus
areas.
VI. Projects on disaster reduction headed by your ministry(1) Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP)(2) Risk Reduction Programme(3) Construction of Multi Purpose Disaster Shelters(4) Strengthening emergency response system through enhancing searchand rescue capability (Procurement of equipment)(5) Food policy capacity strengthening programmeVII. Counterpart of ADRC
Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, Government of the People’s
Republic of Bangladesh.

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