Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Approaches in Bangladesh

Abstract

A number of disasters are very common in Bangladesh. Among them, flood, tropical cyclone and drought are the most catastrophic disaster, which has substantial effect on livelihood. In every disaster, people within the community suf- fer most the disaster impacts and they are the first front line responders to survive with disaster. During or after disaster period, it has been often seen that external support comes later to rescue community. In this regard, community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) is a new concept that provides an opportunity to dovetail indigenous knowledge for disaster risk reduction and settle strategy to mainstream risk reduction at the community level. In Bangladesh, the communities have devel- oped a number of community driven approaches with the collaboration with differ- ent international as well as governmental organization or NGO. Thus it eventually helps in building the capacity of the local community to prepare and respond with emergency faced by disasters. On the contrary, Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has established Ministry of Food and Disaster Management (MoFDM) through which it operates all disaster management activities within the country. Besides, Government now gives more emphasis on the involvement of community and local government in the disaster management system. Even, GoB established comprehen- sive disaster management program (CDMP) under MoFDM to reduce the nation’s vulnerability to natural hazards and to strengthen disaster management activities. However, CBDRR activities are now institutionalized in local government through the recent national program of CDMP with the assistance of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).