Rashida, sitting in the middle, is one of the beneficiaries of the Community Based Approaches to Disaster Preparedness (CBADP) project. She lives in the Narshingdi District, about 60 kilometres north of Dhaka, a vulnerable and disaster-prone area of Bangladesh.

Rashida is a member of the Mitali Ganokendra (located in the Alipura Union, Raipura Upazila), one of the 241 Community Centres targeted by the project. In a general meeting held at community level, the CBADP Union Supervisors discussed with the community members ways in which to reduce vulnerabilities to natural disaster and how to increase their coping mechanisms in case of hazards.

Rashida was present at the general meeting, and she did not hesitate to sign for the training session on disaster preparedness when she heard that Concern Universal in partnership with Dhaka Ahsania Mission would be conducting training sessions very soon. She attended the three day course on Disaster Preparedness for the Management Committee Members of the Ganokendras in early May 2006. At the time she was building her house back in her village. Following the training, and aware of the need to reduce risk

in case of disaster, Rashida decided to raise the land where she was building her house. And by doing so, she has reduced her and her family’s vulnerability to natural hazards. Rashida is now encouraging her neighbours to do the same.

The Katherbill Village Development Centre (VDC), in the Hativanga Union, Dewangonj Upazila, in the Jamalpur District, is part of the 241 Community Centres targeted in the Community Based Approaches to Disaster Preparedness (CBADP) project. Members from the Katherbill village have participated in the training for Management Committee Members, Training of Trainers, and Volunteers Training delivered by Concern Universal in partnership with Dhaka Ahsania Mission. Following the

training sessions, the Coordinators and the Union Supervisors of the CBADP project conducted another general meeting in the village in order to discuss the benefits from the training session, and the improvement works they are carrying out in preparation for disaster.

Following the capacity building and awareness raising on disaster preparedness at community level, the villagers have taken pro-active steps in strengthening their capacity and resilience when facing natural hazards. The community has come together to built bamboo bridges to help evacuate the most vulnerable people (the elderly, children, pregnant women, people with disability, etc.) during disaster period, particularly in case of floods.

They have also built bamboo shelves to store household goods and other assets in higher places and, consequently, reduce the losses during floods.

In preparation for disaster, the women made the portable clay-stoves used for cooking in the shelters; they have also gathered and stored fire-wood and dry food items. Baskets and shovels were purchased by the villagers with the intent of raising the land, thus protecting themselves from the devastating effects of the recurrent floods, and large tin-cans are being used as an early warning sign. Together, the members of the Katherbill village are raising their disaster awareness and response capacity toward multiple natural disaster.

Mosammat Monsura Begum is the oldest of four sisters. She is 20 years old, and married to Golam Kibria. They live in Napitkhali Village, Burirchar Union, in the southwest District of Barguna. Mosammat is a teacher in the local primary school. In the village there is a Ganokendra (Community Centre) supported by Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Concern Universal’s partner in the implementation of the Community Based Approaches to Disaster Preparedness (CBADP) project.

Mosammat is a member of the Suruj Ganokendra, and the local Community Worker told Mosammat about the CBADP project and the volunteer’s training that would take place for two days in July, in the Sagorika Community Resource Centre. On the same day, Mosammat Begum asked to attend the training: “I saw through my eyes, and my father told me, that due to lack of knowledge about disaster preparedness my family and other people around the area suffered a lot. I have decided to attend this training workshop so that in future my family and my neighbours will be able to reduce losses in disaster. I want my family and my neighbours to live and to reduce losses during disaster. That is why I attended the training”. But Mosammat’s role in disaster preparedness goes further: “My future plan is to develop awareness among my family members about disaster preparedness, and I will discuss with them how to reduce losses from disaster. And then I will inform my students in the classroom about disaster preparedness. So they will be able to share this idea with their parents”.

Disaster Preparedness for all ages!
Rafiqul Islam, on the left, is a 14 year old student, son of Abdul Sobhan Gazi. He lives with his family in the Kamrabad Village, Barguna District, in the southwest of Bangladesh. He has one brother and two sisters. He is the third child.
In his village, there is a Ganokendra supported by Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Concern Universal’s partner in the implementation of the Community Based Approaches to Disaster Preparedness (CBADP) project. The Ganokendra’s local Community Worker, Mosammat Shurma Akhter, informed Rafiqul’s mother about the CBADP project and the training for volunteers to be conducted in the in the Sagorika Community Resource Centre (CRC). When Rafiqul’s mother told him about the training, he immediately contacted the Community Worker asking if he could attend: “she has informed me that in July, for two days, there would be a volunteer’s training in Sagorika and that we would be learning about disaster preparedness. It was then that I decided to participate in that training”. Despite his young age, Rafiqul knows how important it is to be prepared for natural disasters, and after the training he wishes to tell his family members about disaster preparedness “so my family will be able to reduce losses in disaster. Then I will inform my friends. And after that with the permission of the headmaster of my school I will discuss about disaster preparedness and how to reduce losses in disaster at my and other classes. I will also discuss with the local people of my area about the need for disaster preparedness”. Rafiqul and his friends are growing up prepared to face natural disaster, and playing a very important role in the building of a ‘culture of risk reduction’ in the highly disaster-prone country of Bangladesh.