African Journal of
History and Culture

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Hist. Cult.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-6672
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJHC
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 201

Review

Mechanisms and challenges for managing disaster in Bangladesh

  Faraha Nawaz1* and Md Nurun Nabi Shah2        
  1Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh (Currently on study leave) and Doctoral fellow, Flinders University, Australia. 2Freelance Writer, Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Bangladesh.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 07 July 2011
  •  Published: 31 August 2011

Abstract

 

Bangladesh is a developing country in South Asia which has approximately fourteen core population. It is also known as a disaster prone country and is surrounded by thousands of rivers such as the Ganges, the Brahamaputra, and the Meghna and so on. The Himalayan range to the North and the Bay of Bengal in the South creates a complex weather system. Bangladesh is a common victim of natural calamities due to this unfavorable weather condition. Major natural calamities are tropical cyclones, tidal bores, floods, tornados, river bank erosions, earthquakes etc. A large number of poor people live in the vulnerable areas in the southern part of Bangladesh. The vulnerability is so miserable that they must resettle in the newly accreted land in the Bay of Bengal and its surrounding areas which are occasionally hit by tidal bores or devastating cyclones. The adverse impacts of these natural hazards affecting the socio-economic condition need to be reduced for sustainable development. Realization of this reality, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has undertaken a lot of plans and programs for disaster reduction through disaster management.

 

Key words: Disaster, mitigation measures, community, disaster management mechanisms.