DHAKA, June 11, 2020 (BSS) – Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed Tk. 9,836 crore for disaster management and relief for the next fiscal 2020-21.
“I propose to allocate a total of Tk 9,836 crore for the next 2020-21 fiscal year for disaster management and relief, which was Tk 9,872 crore in current fiscal 2019-20,” he said while placing the budget for fiscal 2020-21 in Jatiya Sangsad today with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
In his budget speech, Kamal said Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country and it is one of the most vulnerable countries to global climate change.
“In the last few years, we have been moving away from traditional disaster management and focusing more on reducing disaster risks and improving adaptability and resilience. But, due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we have quickly expanded our humanitarian relief and support activities,” he added.
The finance minister said Bangladesh has established a National Disaster Response Coordination Cell (NDRCC) to transmit the coordinated early warnings and critical disaster information to the grassroots level.
Bangladesh has been successful in engaging volunteers during disasters, while 56,000 volunteers have already been given trainings and provided with necessary rescue equipment, and a database of them has been prepared, he said.
About 35,000 urban volunteers have been specially trained for disaster response in urban areas, Kamal said, adding that regular drills are being conducted to keep these volunteers ready for disasters like earthquake, cyclone and fire.
He said Bangladesh has become a role model of humanitarian support provider in the world by providing safe shelter, food, healthcare services to 11 lakh Rohingya refugees who were forcefully displaced from their homes in Myanmar.
“We will continue with this gesture of humanitarian response in the coming fiscal year too,” he added.
The finance minister mentioned that Bangladesh recently faced the onslaught of the deadly tropical super cyclone ‘Amphan’.
“Following the forecasts, we took adequate preparations to effectively combat the possible devastation by the Amphan cyclone. We could, therefore, quickly start the relief operations and tackle the situation in areas of the country hard-hit by the cyclone,” he said.