Disaster preparedness for natural hazards. Current status in Bangladesh

This report provides key issues (not a comprehensive analysis, which is available in much of the literature) of disaster problems in Bangladesh, the history behind the current status of disaster preparedness plans, and gaps in the plans and shortcomings in their implementation. It also gives an account of disaster management instruments, institutional arrangements, and policies at national and local level. Finally, the authors give their own analysis of the key performance issues of implementation of the various plans.
The analytical framework used in the report has three core components: a) natural hazards are analysed taking into account that Bangladesh is located within the Himalayan or Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) geophysical region; b) disaster preparedness plans are presented as they existed in February 2007, and c) various national and international commitments such as the Hyogo Declaration and the author’s own long-term research into understanding people’s vulnerability were the basis to comment on gaps in the plans as well as performance in their implementation. The exercise involved interviewing key people in Bangladesh.