ZCZC
BSS-25
COMMUNITY-DRR
Communities in capital take DRR approach to face disaster
By Tanzim Anwar
DHAKA, Oct 13, 2018 (BSS) – Different communities, basically house owners, in the capital are taking their own initiatives to practice ‘Disaster Risk Reduction’ (DRR) as a supplement to the government efforts to face natural or manmade calamities.
The communities at different parts under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) are making their own action plans on taking early preparations to face disasters to reduce dependency on immediate institutional response to catastrophes of any kind.
“As citizens, we have responsibilities apart from the government efforts to save our lives and habitats. We have made our own action plan on disaster by taking some particular activities,” Anwarul Islam, youth secretary of Monipuri Para Kaliyan Samity, told BSS today.
He said the members of the Samity have already made an action plan to reduce the risk of disasters like fire, water logging and earthquake.
“We have made an emergency response team with 65 volunteers living in Monipuri Para. These volunteers have been trained to act as the first response team before the arrival of Fire Service personnel to save the lives and assets during any disaster,” Anwarul said.
As per the request of the Samity, comprising the house owners of the area, the firefighters have given training to the local inhabitants on how to use the fire extinguishers.
Referring to a recent fire incident that took place at Amin Tower, a building in his area, Anwarul said the volunteers succeeded to extinguish the fire, using the knowledge they gathered during their training, before the firefighters reached the spot. “If we didn’t have the training, fire might spread to other buildings adjacent to Amin Tower that night,” he added.
DNCC and SEEDS Asia, a Japan-based NGO, jointly took the initiative under a project titled, “Capacity Building for Community-Based DRR in Urban Areas of Bangladesh”.
The project was initiated in 2016 and currently eight communities are working under it in line with DNCC’s proposal for developing local level disaster management plan and its implementation for building a disaster resilient city.
“Different area got different kinds of problems. In our area, we have narrow roads to pass the emergency vehicles like ambulance and fire service lorry. So, we took initiatives to widen our roads by encouraging the house owners to leave spaces in their plots,” said Dewan Abdul Manna, commissioner of Pikepara Klayanpur area.
The Anirban Kallyan Samity of the area had taken the same kind of initiative on DRR last year and prepared its own action plan and built a pool of volunteers with the local youths to response as the first team during any emergency.
“As per the action plan of the Samity, we removed an electric transformer and some electricity wires which were too hazardous for fire,” Mannan said.
The councilor said the city corporation has the responsibility to respond to disasters and protect the city dwellers. But as the citizens, all also need to be aware and prepare themselves on their own, he added.
Before making the action plan, the communities exercised “Town Watching Walk” in the neighbourhood with the patronage of DNCC to identify the disaster vulnerability and risk factors.
Town watching is a widely used tool of DRR education as well as community capacity building for DRR around the world while SEEDS Asia project coordinator Miharu Sato said, “Knowing the risk and one’s own community is the first step in DRR.”
She said DRR is being promoted through innovative measures such as Town Watching and lively discussions and the development of hazard maps that are pasted on the walls of the community offices so everybody knows the dangerous and safe areas of their neighbourhood.
“We didn’t only identify the hazardous objects of our area, we also pinpointed the resources and strength of our area like water reservoir and open space that can be utilised after any disaster like fire and earthquake,” said Khalilur Rahman, the president of the Tinshed Bari Malik Kalyan Samity of Pallabi, another community working under the initiative.
After the town watching, the community members prepared their own community hazard map and pointed out both the hazardous and useful features on the map.
“Following the mapping, we sat together to discuss what we can do to reduce risks and utilise resources. As per our discussions and findings, we made an action plan on disaster risk reduction,” he said.
DNCC Superintending Engineer of Environment, Climate Change, and Disaster Management Circle Dr Tariq Bin Yousuf said the DNCC is encouraging all ward councilors to replicate the model to involve people in making action plans and implement those.
BSS/SPL/TA/GA/1710 hrs