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The British Red Cross Society is supporting the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society in running a Community Disaster Preparedness programme in the 9 cyclone prone districts of Bangladesh. The programme will save lives and reduce the vulnerability of communities by improving disaster preparedness at both household and community level, especially amongst women and children. This project will make vulnerable people better prepared for, and better able to deal with the effects of, cyclones. It will cost £1,360,000 to run this project in 2008-2009.

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Categories

  • Disaster Relief Disaster Relief
  • Poverty Alleviation/Relief Poverty Alleviation/​Relief
  • Beneficiaries

    Situation

    Bangladesh has a population of around 142 million, 36% of whom live on less than US$1 a day. This level of poverty forces people to live on the cyclone prone coast and islands in the south and south east of the country, surviving through labouring, paddy and wheat farming or as traditional fishermen. This extreme poverty and the ever-changing environment in the coastal areas of Bangladesh means that most of peoples’ time is devoted to day to day survial and little time is spent preparing for the cyclones. As a result communities are often poorly prepared for cyclones - lacking leadership, any organised plans for evacuations or procedures for ensuring the protection of animals. Cyclone shelters are also poorly maintained or misused because no local body exists to manage them and people are often either unsure of their purpose or don’t feel safe to take refuge in them (women having reported sexual harassment). Tested and well understood emergency plans, evacuation procedures and well managed shelters can mean that the numbers of fatalities and injuries are reduced and people are not pushed deeper into poverty and disruption to community life is kept to a minimum. The Red Cross project will establish Community Preparedness Committees, trained by experienced Bangladesh Red Crescent staff, who will be responsible for a range of disaster preparedness activities. They will develop evacuation plans and organise practice evacuations twice a year in each community. As part of the project the committees will take ownership of the existing cyclone shelters and become responsible for their management. The Red Cross will also recruit more women to participate in cyclone preparedness activities, which will have a direct effect not only on the survival of themselves, but also their children, elderly relatives and belongings. We will also target over 17,000 school children to make them aware of cyclone warning signals and what to do in the event of a cyclone. A major donation today will allow us to continue to support this project. It is estimated that close to 60% of worldwide deaths due to cyclones in the last 20 years have occurred in Bangladesh. Please give whatever you can to help the vulnerable people of Bangladesh be prepared when the next cyclone strikes.

    Solution

    100%
    Categories

  • Disaster Relief Disaster Relief
  • Poverty Alleviation/Relief Poverty Alleviation/​Relief
  • Beneficiaries