How did the disaster management issue come forward?
We have formulated a national disaster management strategy step by step from experiences of natural disasters like floods, cyclones and tsunami. Disaster management concerns were raised at first during the 1988 and 1990 floods. The Pakistan-era flood dams began to show faults. In 1993, the government created the Disaster Management Bureau along with a flood action plan. Standing Orders on Disasters (SODs) were created in 1997, in which we defined the role of every person during and after a disaster. But a complete disaster programme only began in 2004 funded by British development agencies. Other donors came in later.
Where are we in terms of managing earthquakes?
Our main challenge is to get trained volunteers to affected areas in the city after an earthquake. Machines and motor vehicles will not reach those areas. The government has already trained 60,000 professional volunteers. Underground gas lines will also be a severe problem, making the earthquake situation worse. Nepal's big earthquake had minimum impact because people use cylinder gas there. Massive funds are required to build up a system for automatic gas and electricity shutdown in densely populated earthquake prone areas.
Is it true that a mid-level earth earthquake can destroy 60% of Dhaka?
Yes, it is true. A mid-level earthquake will destroy 60% of Dhaka's infrastructure and cause a great loss of life and property due to the high construction and population density here. Unplanned industrial and urban growth has made us vulnerable. We are now trying to build houses and infrastructure under the Detailed Area Plan. We have already identified the earthquake-prone buildings in and around Dhaka. Many public buildings are on this list.
Is retrofitting of vulnerable buildings the main challenge for the government?
Retrofitting of vulnerable buildings is a major challenge because it is expensive. Massive funds will be needed for this. If the buildings are not safe, what good will awareness do?
Do the country’s disaster management programmes have enough funds?
A comprehensive disaster management programme was completed recently but it is unclear how future disaster management programmes will get funding. Fund crisis at the Disaster Management Ministry is chronic due to low budget allocation. There are funds available in the climate change programmes under the Environment Ministry. If the two ministries work together, some of the crises could be solved.
Is awareness of disaster management in the country, especially earthquake, enough?
We do not have enough earthquake awareness. The media, especially electronic media, has to play a big role in creating awareness on the situation. TV channels are busy running political talk shows but they do not talk about this life and death issue. Some development partners issue funds to raise awareness on earthquakes. But we need big awareness programmes. One good thing is that disaster management issues were included in the primary and secondary curricula along with teachers’ training modules from 2013.
