STRATEGY TO ENHANCE COMMUNITY
PREPAREDNESS IN FLOOD RESILIENCY:
BANGLADESH EXPERIENCE
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The Presentation
Objective and Methodology
Bangladesh, its river system
Concept of flood in Bangladesh
Few Slides on Flood situation: rural and
urban
Resilience activities
Flood disaster management
Disaster management insttnl & regulatory
arrangements
Public consultation
Summarizing Bangladesh Experience
Conclusion
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RIVER SYSTEMS OF BANGLADESH
Brahmaputra
Meghna
Ganges
River System :
India
405 rivers
24,000 km
Trans-boundary rivers :
(54 with India, 3
with Myanmar)
Rainfall: 1200 - 5500 mm
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The GBM Basins
1.75million sq. km
Brahmaputra Basin
552,000 sq.km
CHINA
INDIA
Ganges Basin
1,087,000 sq.km
BHUTAN
INDIA
BANGLADESH
Meghna Basin
82,000 sq.km
BAY OF BENGAL
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Floods in Bangladesh
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The Concept of Flood in Bangladesh
Two Key concepts of Flood:
(1) Borsha and (2) Bannya.
• “Borsha”(Bengali synonym of normal flood).
• “Bannya” (Bengali synonym of damaging flood)
• ‘Borshaa’ has always been a source of livelihood, and was
integrated with our social and cultural life; food and
nutrition supply; flora and fauna; wetland functions and
ecological balance. In rural Bangladesh, life had been
uncomfortable if there was no ‘Borshaa’.
• “Bannya” causes loss of life, property, crops; and disrupts
normal business, communication and transportation
system.
• Urban flooding is more recent phenomenon and has taken
a new dimension during the last years.
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Vast Agricultural land under flood water
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Village under Flood
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Breach on Embankment
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Another example of breach
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Vast land eroding
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Railway track under flood water
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People inShifting
Distresshis goat
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Own transport: Very Cheap to construct
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Main Road from the International Airport to city
center in the Capital under water
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Occurrence and intensity of urban flood hazards are
increasing.
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2-3 ft water on busy city road
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Worst hit is the poorer section of the population
Only 8% of distress is generated in-country and 92% come from outside
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Damages due to a devastating flood goes up to
even US$ 20-25 million.
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Resilience Activities
• Flood resiliency refers to the power or ability to
prepare for the flood, face the flood and return to
normal life after the flood.
• An integrated flood risk management package consists
of or mix of the following three elements :
– preventive measures (pre-flood);
– flood forecasting and warning (pre-flood);
– disaster management measures (during and post
flood).
• Technical Measures are mostly at pre, during and
post -disaster period
• Non-technical Measures like evacuation, food &
medical relief are mostly during and post disaster
period
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• Preventive measures: Mostly by the
Government agencies.
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Embankment
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Hydraulic Structures
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Flood Wall when land is not available (like
crowded part of Dhaka)
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Revetment on Embankment (Dhaka Flood
Protection)
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Bank Revetment:
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Spur/Groyne
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Flood Protection Infrastructures So Far
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Embankment
Hydraulic structures
Flood Wall
Revetment
Spur/Groyne
Drainage channel
.River closures
• Area benefitted
• Town protected
10,100 km
14,110 Nos.
20 km
522 km
220 Nos
4,000 km
1,302 Nos.
6.0 million Ha
20 Nos.
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Flood forecasting and early warning
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FF & EW Centre
• Established in 1972 under the MoWR.
• Forecasting systems being strengthened in stages
(after 1987 and 1988 floods).
• Limited data on water level and rainfall forecast
from India, Nepal and China.
• Co-operation and co-ordination of the coriparian countries is important and essential
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Dissemination of FF & EW
• Although, regular weather forecast on the
electronic and the print media, yet
dissemination of flood warning is a challenge.
• Information to remote areas is still a
problem.
• In this respect a pilot programme thrugh
mobile telephones has been taken up.
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Flood forecasting and early warning System
R
e
a
l
T
i
m
e
R a in fa ll
D a t a
In d i a n D a ta
Internet
WMO
JRC
W A RP O
R iv e r s ta g e
w i r e l e s s c o m m u n i c a ti o n
T e l e m e tr y /D a ta b o x / V o i c e
D isse m in a t io n
t o t h e p u b lic
R adio
BMD
W e a th e r fo r e c a s t
S y n o p ti c c h a r ts
M o dem
T el ephone
S a tte l i te i m a g e s
B o u n d a r y e s ti m a ti o n
R a i n fa l ,
W a te r l e v e l
F ax M odem
24, 48, 72 h r
fo r e ca s ts
w a te r le v e l
T el ev is i on
D isse m in a t io n
t o v a r io u s a g e n c ie s
S P ARRS O
F ax
B u l l e ti n e
m a n u a l e n tr y
flo o d e x t e n t
m aps
v i a m odem
F F W C R a d io T o w e r
D a ta E n tr y & P r o c e s s i n g
M o dell ing & M apping
th a n a
in u n d a tio n
m aps
G IS d a ta l a y e r s
F F W C S a te l l i te d i s h
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Announcement with microphone locally
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Public response to forecast and warning are
mixed. They did not move to safe place in
time.
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During and post flood disaster management
measures
• Preparation of a Contingency plan in advance
(contingency plan for emergency repair as well
as emergency evacuation).
• Storing of essential construction materials and
keeping logistics ready to meet emergencies).
• Temporary measures
vulnerable points
for
protection
of
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Emergency protection against leakage
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Emergency Protective Works of eroded
embankment
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Community resilience
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Bamboo “Shanko” to Restore communication in a
remote vallage
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Desperate individual attempt to cope with flood
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Post flood relief distribution
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Disaster Management Institutions
in Bangladesh
National Disaster
Management Council
Inter Ministerial
Disaster Management
Coordination
Committee (IMDMCC)
National Disaster
Management Advisory
Committee (NDMAC)
Ministry of Food and Disaster Management
Directorate of Food
Directorate of Relief
and Rehabilitation
Disaster Management
Bureau
Cyclone Preparedness
Programme
Implementation Board
District Disaster
Management Committee
Municipal Disaster
Management Committee
City Corporation
Disaster Management
Committee
Zone / Upazila
Union
Upazila Disaster Management Committee
Union Disaster Management Committee
Village
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Disaster Management Regulative
Framework
Disaster
Management Act
DM Policy
National Plan for DM
Sectoral Policies
Sectoral Plans
(DRR Incorporated)
(DRR Incorporated)
Local Plans
Hazard Plans
SOD
Guideline
Templates
Programming for Implementation
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Discussion with local leaders in a village
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Public Consultation
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Summarizing Bangladesh Experience
1. An integrated flood risk management package consists
of a mix of :
• preventive measures (pre-flood);
• flood forecasting and warning (pre-flood);
• disaster management measures (during and post flood).
2. Flood disaster preparedness includes mitigation as well
as adaptation activities and are taken at –
(a) individual,
(b) community and
(c) government levels
- depending upon the nature and extent of the activity. 47
For community preparedness:
• There has to be an expressed or unexpressed
unanimity among the members of the society with
respect to community preparedness for flood
resiliance. People of Bangladesh have learnt it from
real-life.
• For countries, where flood is not a regular feature,
such a culture has to be initiated and practiced.
• Government has to support the resilience initiatives by
local community. In the absence of local community
initiative to start with, the government has to take the
initiative.
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• It is obvious that people in high risk areas are the first to
face the odds of floods and are always the first to
respond to a disaster. They are usually involved in
search and rescue activities as well as providing
treatment and relief to their families, friends and
neighbors. They use local knowledge to develop their
own skill, coping mechanisms and strategies to reduce
the impacts of disasters, which need to be augmented and
improved through training in flood disaster preparedness
activities, rescue techniques and first aid.
• Community volunteers can play crucial role in establishing
flood/disaster resilient society. Linkage and cooperation
of community volunteers-community based organizationslocal government institutions are pivotal. Bangladesh has
63 thousand flood volunteers.
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Conclusion
• Enhancement of Community Preparedness for a flood
resilient society has to be developed for (a) advance
preparation (b) real-time responses including evacuation
and (c) post-flood relief and rehabilitation.
• In the community approach, the community has to be
motivated, institutionalized, trained at community and
individual levels to build capacity, provided with essential
tools and equipment, and, making provisions for
addressing unforeseen eventualities. What is most
important in this connection is that the approach to work
with the community has to be “bottom up, not top down.”
• Finally, Bangladesh is a country where flooding is a way
of life, not a future risk. Flood resilience is inborn among
the people and the community.
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Thank You Thank You
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