Govt to build 220 more cyclone centres to curb deaths from disasters

According to the study, some 10,882 people were killed, while more than seven million people were affected between 1996 and 2006. Comparatively, the number of deaths came down to 9,906 with 4.5 million people were affected between 2006 and 2015. Mozharul Huq, general secretary of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS), said: “The improvement of preparation taken against any disaster has assisted Bangladesh to bring down the number of deaths in recent natural disasters. “Bangladesh suffered the catastrophic blow of deaths between 3,00,000 and 5,00,000 during the Cyclone Bhola in 1970. Through better preparation, casualties were reduced to a little over 3,000 during Cyclone Sidr in 2007, and a mere 190 during Cyclone Aila in 2009. The number is shown to be continuously decreasing, as the number of deaths from all natural disasters totalled 290 in 2015.” Huq added: “If the progress continues, the damage and death would come under control by 2030.” After unveiling the report as chief guest, Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said: “To achieve more advancement in this regard, the government will build 220 more cyclone centres across the country.” “At present, there are 153 centres and some 55,000 volunteers in the country,” the minister added. Vice Chairman of BDRCS Mohammad Habibe Millat MP said: “In international meetings, Bangladesh is cited as the model for disaster management and the country has to keep up the pace of progress.” He urged the minister to ensure the Bangladesh government's official involvement in the IFRC 1 billion Coalition by signing with the UN for a permanent mission of the country. Earlier, senior advisor of IFRC Bangladesh office, Shammi Ahmed, elaborated on the 1 billion Coalition campaign saying: “People need to be aware as 4.4m people were affected by disasters in 2015 alone. Furthermore, they were suspecting that some 18m people would be affected by climate-induced displacement next year.” “1,00,000 children are dying each year from diarrheal diseases. 63M people lack access to sanitation throughout the world and 21m lack safe water” she added. The report said, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), 371 disasters were triggered by natural hazards and 203 by technological hazards in 2015 worldwide. The number of natural hazards (DTNH) was the fourth highest of the decade, close to its decade’s annual average (375), and the number of technical hazards (DTTH) was the third lowest of the decade, 13 percent below the decade’s annual average (234). Floods remain the most frequent DTNH, but their number was down to 154 in 2015, 10% below the decade’s annual average of 172. With 114 disasters, storms were in the second position, but this number was the highest of the decade, at 18% above the decade’s annual average 97. The number of 33 disasters triggered by droughts was the highest of the decade as well, being 38% above the decade’s annual average of 24. The number of deaths caused by DTNH is 22,724 which is the fifth highest of the decade, but still remains 67% below its annual average of 69,808, far from the peaks of 2008 (242,215 deaths) and 2010 (314,503 deaths). The deadliest DTNH of 2015 was the earthquake which hit Nepal in April and killed 8,831 people. This is very far from the number of deaths – 138,375 deaths – caused by cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008.