EuropeAid

Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme - CDMP 

Recent earthquake events reveal thatschools are highly vulnerable to strongground motion. School specific safetyand evacuation trainings and drills havebeen organized for students andteachers in 30 schools within the areasunder Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhetcity corporations.

CDMP

Context  Bangladesh - Highly vulnerable to disasters

Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to both natural and human inducedhazards such as floods, cyclones, droughts, tidal surges, tornadoes,earthquakes, river erosion, arsenic contamination of ground water, waterlogging, water and soil salinity, etc. The pervasive poverty and highpopulation density accentuate the vulnerability of the people tocatastrophic natural hazards affecting life and livelihood.

Objective  Improved disaster management in Bangladesh

The overall objective of the project is to help the people ofBangladesh to protect their livelihood from the impact of naturalhazards. EU funding helps to strengthen the systems in place toprovide information to local communities, so that they mobilize theirown coping mechanisms to deal with natural hazards. The projectalso aims at strengthening institutions to deal with earthquake andtsunami/storm surge hazards.

Impact  Major achievements up to April 2009

Local Risk Reduction Action Plans completed for 177 unions in 28upazilas (sub-districts) within 14 districts. GIS-based hazard zoningmaps completed for 64 unions in seven upazilas of seven districts.

Disaster management education and training network establishedthrough partnerships with government organisations as well asacademic and training institutions.

Earthquake risk maps and contingency plans nearly finalised atnational, city corporation and agency levels.

Tsunami inundation and storm surge risk maps completed,revealing different levels of vulnerability in coastal areas.

The Disaster Management Information Network has been set upwith connectivity planned to be provided in 235 upazilas.

Natural disasters & crisis management EC support to Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Project 

EC Partner 

Government ofBangladesh, UNDP &DFID

Facts and Figures 

EU contribution € 8.9million (91% of total)Project period: 1September 2006 –31 December 2009

National and localgovernmentorganisationsproactively involved

Communitiescontributeenthusiastically tolocal risk reductionaction plans

Earthquakepreparednessimproved

Inundation risk mapsreflect vulnerability ofcoastal areas totsunamis and stormsurges

MDG 7

EuropeAid

EC support to Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Project 

Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme - CDMP 

Community Risk Assessment & Risk Reduction Action Plans

The Hazard Awareness component of CDMP focuses on communitywelfare with interventions aimed at reducing the effects of hazards onlivelihoods, using a methodology called Community Risk Assessment(CRA).

CRA is a participatory and action research method that placescommunities in the lead role for the assessment, active planning,design, implementation and evaluation of activities aimed at reducingtheir vulnerability to risks they face with regard to various naturaldisasters.

In particular, the CRA is used to assess hazards, vulnerabilities, risks,coping abilities and strategies through participatory processes, and toreach consensus amongst community members on actions needed.

The method recognizes that mitigation strategies and copingmechanisms vary from community to community and group to groupwithin the same community.

CRA results in consensual risk reduction action plans reflecting visionsand opinions of communities. CRA is currently being implemented on apilot basis for future replication on a much wider scale.

CRA process at local level

Natural disasters & crisis management