Bangladesh, a country heavily impacted by climate change, recently witnessed a prolonged heatwave with temperatures reaching 42°C, followed by the long duration of Cyclone Remal, and subsequent floods. Although an advanced Early Warning System (EWS) is in place in Bangladesh, strengthening community resilience remains essential to tackling the future challenges that increased climate uncertainty brings.
Cyclone Remal's toll on Bangladesh
With a span of about 400km, Cyclone Remal struck the Bangladesh coast on 26th May 2024, passing through the Sundarbans with wind speeds as high as 111km/h. The cyclone caused prolonged precipitation and widespread destruction, with floods submerging areas and disrupting livelihoods across 19 districts.
Damage to 61 kilometres of embankments in Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat resulted in significant financial losses. According to the Needs Assessment Working Group, 80,591 hectares of cultivable land were flooded.
The working areas of Practical Action in Bangladesh, Satkhira and Khulna, fell under the great danger signal 10. These regions, along with Faridpur district, face risks of heatwaves, cyclones, and riverine floods. Human interventions have diminished the protective barrier provided by the Sundarbans, exposing vulnerable communities more each day, and exacerbating the effects of such risks.
These events underscore the necessity of enhancing community resilience from all perspectives.
Urgency for strengthening community resilience
Bangladesh's EWS is advancing; warnings are being disseminated using multiple mobile network operators, government websites, voice messages, digital weather boards and the Disaster Alert for BD app. These technological advancements enable volunteers from the Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) to disseminate disaster information to areas that are hardest to reach.
Despite progress in Bangladesh's EWS, some risks like losses and damage to natural resources and physical infrastructures, as well as financial losses, remain significant and unavoidable. Predicting and managing meteorological and hydrometeorological events is complex due to the influence of multiple factors on the occurrence, intensity, and impacts of such events. These complexities make it hard to estimate potential losses and damages, whilst at the same time increasing the need for alternative and innovative approaches to mitigate impacts and ensure rapid system restoration.
Practical Action's contribution to enhanced resilience
As part of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, Practical Action helps vulnerable communities prepare for and recover from climate change-induced hazards. In Faridpur District, the implementation of the Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) tool found a lack of adequate EWS in remote areas. This deficiency arises from insufficient resources and challenges such as limited technological access, awareness, and government initiatives.
As a result, communities in remote areas of Faridpur, especially living in the Char areas (silt-clay-sandbars created by river deposits in the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta), previously seldom received early warning messages/signals. Initiatives like disaster alert apps and localized voice messaging systems are contributing to the increased preparedness that is being seen across communities. Fishermen and farmers are particularly benefited as they get weather alerts and flood data continuously through the Disaster Alert app. These alerts enable fishermen to return to the ports earlier, and farmers can cut and sell their crops before damage is caused.
During Cyclone Remal, 3,000 volunteers from the CPP were accessible via the Disaster Alert for BD app. Their details are kept up to date within the app, enabling easy contact for anyone needing assistance. These volunteers play a crucial role in disseminating emergency messages to community members during crises. Moreover, Practical Action was able to reach 72,000 households through the voice messages about the cyclone warnings.
Building resilience towards future events
As the need to build resilience towards future events rapidly increases, Practical Action's work in Bangladesh will involve building resilience to heatwaves, as well as floods. Teams will conduct the Participatory Rural Appraisal, a Community Risk Assessment, and then, using the Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities tool, assess the resilience of the vulnerable people. Conducting these assessments will allow us to identify and prioritize resilience building activities and develop risk reduction action plans for the most vulnerable areas.
Our upcoming initiatives include implementing risk transfer mechanisms, enhancing governance systems, and improving alert systems to enhance resilience and responsiveness to future events. Collaboration with relevant authorities like local government, private sectors or NGOs will be essential for advancing these efforts further. The impact that Cyclone Remal had on vulnerable livelihoods underscores the need for better resilience through increased adaptation, improved preparedness, and response, and prompt recovery.