Campaign for Enacting Disaster Management Act

Enact the Disaster Management Act : Secure Life, Livelihoods & Resources

Bangladesh, located in a low-lying deltaic region, is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. A large part of the population is always at risk due to the country’s unique geographical location, overwhelming dependence on nature and its resources, high population density, high level of poverty, failing institutions and mismanagement.
About 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The number of poor and ultra poor is increasing day by day. Frequent natural disasters make the situation worse, increasing the risk of vulnerability. Particularly, events such as coastal and river erosions, flash floods, irregular flooding and cyclones are resulting in large numbers of ultra poor people. According to the mortality risk index of the United Nations, Bangladesh is on top of the list of countries being affected by earthquakes, floods, cyclones and landslides.
Change of climate and the tendency of related extreme events are also increasing in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world. These ‘events’ and ‘tendencies’ will increase both in intensity and frequency due to climate change. The world’s temperature has risen by about 0.7 degrees Celsius in the last five decades. Sea-surface temperatures near the Bangladesh coast have increased by about 0.45 degrees Celsius. Only two or three decades back, the number of the local cautionary signal number three, on average, was used four to five times from the first week of June to mid-November. However, in 2008, the number tripled during the corresponding period. In 2010, the signal was used 14 times.

 Coastal and river erosion caused by rapid climate change affects 50,000 to 200,000 people every year; with at least 60,000 of them becoming homeless.
 An increase in salinity of the soil combined with the expansion of this area is hampering the livelihoods of at least 120,000 people directly and causing another 10,000-15,000 to become internal refugees.
 Inundation and water logging are affecting 350,000 people directly, almost 30,000 of whom have become homeless.
 At least 300,000-400,000 people are also affected every three years by cyclones and storm surges; at least 120,000 of whom become homeless.
 Flash floods caused by rainwater from hill slopes risk the livelihoods of about 20 million people. The climate induced disasters are hampering the lives and livelihoods of at least 20 million people in Bangladesh.
 Moreover, at least 200,000 people are becoming homeless every year.

Many international studies also exposed the vulnerability of Bangladesh due to climate change:
 Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable and endangered countries listed by the Inter Governmental Panel for Climate Change & United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
 It also topped the chart made for climate change susceptibility by Dr. Karoline Sulivan, a professor at the Oxford University.
 A UK based organization MappleKraft has conducted surveys in 170 countries using 42 key parameters for countries and displaying the 16 most climate susceptible countries in the coming 30 years. Bangladesh is in the number one position.
 Germanwatch, an international organization, has been publishing climate risk indicators for several years. Bangladesh was among the highest risk prone countries in 2007, 2008 and 2009. This index shows that Bangladesh has the highest climate risk for this decade as well.

Bangladesh also faces a high risk of moderate to strong quakes. According to a seismic zoning map prepared by the BUET, 43 percent areas in Bangladesh are rated high risk for quakes, 41 percent moderate risk and 16 percent low risk. The country also faces the risk of tsunamis as four active sources of earthquakes in the Bay of Bengal can generate tremors with a magnitude of over seven on the Richter scale, seriously affecting the country.
 The observatory at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) recorded 86 tremors with magnitudes of four on the Richter scale from January 2006 to May 2009. Another four earthquakes took place with magnitudes of over five during the period.
 The Meteorological Department recorded at least 90 earthquakes that took place in the country between May 2007 and July 2008, with nine of them recording above five on the Richter scale and epicenters of 95 percent being within 600 km of Dhaka city. The minor tremors indicate the likelihood of much more powerful earthquakes.

Disasters cause heavy losses to the economy and hamper the development process. Factors like overpopulation, infrastructural weakness and rapid urbanization are increasing the vulnerability of people. Disasters pose a large threat, particularly to the existence of the poor. According to the United Nations Humanitarian Development Report 2007-2008, impacts are forced upon the poor prior to the disasters and it continues for decades. Poor people are unable to take proper action to cope with disasters.
After any disaster, they often have no work, while many lose most of their assets and are obligated to sell their only properties to save their existence. They live with malnutrition and poverty resulting in great misery and misuse of human assets. Narrow space of living, economic weaknesses, low level of human efficiency, institutional weaknesses and mismanagement, globally derived socio-economic problems and limitations of the government are causing severe depredation to the quality of life and livelihoods of the affected population.

So, Solid preparations should be made to face possible disasters. Disaster management is one of the most essential elements of preparing locally to cope with vulnerabilities. The disaster management system of Bangladesh deserves praise. In the past four decades the mortality rate due to disasters has decreased significantly. However, there are still many more important tasks ahead.

The necessity of the Disaster Management Act has been proven now. After the massive Tsunami in 2004 the rebuilding program in Sri Lanka was under threat. There was enough scope and resources for the restoration and rehabilitation work. However, there were problems due to different laws and legislation. The situation before, during and after a disaster are not the same. About 170,000 people were killed, more than 570,000 displaced and 750,000 partially or totally lost their livelihoods due to the tsunami in the Acheh province of Indonesia. In this situation foreign aid could not give proper support as numerous regulatory hurdles hampered the relief work. The Disaster Management Act removes these barriers and makes the situation easier before, during and after a disaster.

Here is one more example: Cyclone Kestuna caused great loss of life and property; it was the largest hazard in four decades for Manila. While there was a draft of a new disaster law, due to the absence of concrete legislation, there were legal barriers making aid work very difficult despite sufficient resources and technical support. Following the cyclone, the ‘Strengthening the Philippines Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System’ bill was passed in parliament, due to advocacy efforts and public campaigns on behalf of Red Crescent and other associate organizations. The Philippines is now in a very good position to combat disaster.

Bangladesh needs such an act immediately as past successes have been overshadowed many times due to a lack of coordination, various legal barriers, etc. The much appreciated and exemplary disaster management system has become colourless due to such phenomenon. Past experiences show that the absence of the Disaster Management Act made various institutional responses harder and coordination became a major problem.

There is adequate manpower in this sector including elected representatives in unions; upazilas and districts, staff at various ministries and departments, teachers and employees of educational institutions and development workers and volunteers. Moreover, there are brave and enthusiastic people who are willing to extend their cooperation as and when it is needed for national emergencies. Bringing all these classes and people under a single law can be the key to disaster management. It will make the processes easier and sustainable.
 To accomplish this, the existing functioning relations between the government, local government institutions and administration, nongovernmental development organizations, bilateral and multilateral development partners and the local people for disaster management, must be expanded.
 A national framework is to be created involving institutions and organizations which are able and proven in this field.
 Prior to this every stakeholder must be included under legal jurisdiction, responsibility and accountability.

There is the hope as the Ministry of Food & Disaster Management has already prepared a draft of the Disaster Management Act. This law specifically elaborates the actions that should be taken before, during and after a disaster by various concerned parties. This draft has been returned by the Cabinet for review. The draft has fulfilled the inadequate approach to combating climate change and earthquakes. To prepare our country for coping with disasters it is important that the draft be presented and passed in the parliament by making the necessary corrections as soon as possible.

This small step will give the long path of disaster management great momentum as people will be provided with at least one support on which to rely. Enforcement of the Bangladesh Disaster Management Act will provide the country with a way to cope with the disaster risks and lead the country to a desired disaster resilient path.
* The brief written by Ziaul Hoque Mukta and Tapas Ranjan Chakrabarty; both of them from Oxfam Bangladesh Team