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Islamic Relief worldwide, Bangladesh Family Level Preparedness Plan A guidebook for filed practitioners Disaster Risk Reduction Department, Islamic Relief Bangladesh Family Level Preparedness Plan

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Islamic Relief worldwide, Bangladesh

Family Level Preparedness Plan A guidebook for filed practitioners

Disaster Risk Reduction Department, Islamic Relief Bangladesh Family Level Preparedness Plan

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Table of Content

Introduction to the Guideline---------------------------------------------------------------------------03

Objective of this Guidebook ----------------------------------------------------------------------------03

Importance of Planning for Disasters-----------------------------------------------------------------04

Institutional Aspect of Disasters ----------------------------------------------------------------------05

Sustainability and Connectedness---------------------------------------------------------------------06

Stages of Development of Family Level Preparedness Plan -----------------------------------08

Identifying Appropriate Family------------------------------------------------------------------08

Risk Identification----------------------------------------------------------------------------------09

Action Planning------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10

Putting the plans into action --------------------------------------------------------------------13

Review the plans -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------13

Consideration for Special Groups---------------------------------------------------------------------14

Annex 1: Specific Hazards, possible preparedness measures----------------------------------15

Annex 2: Causes of environmental degradation & the ways to bring community people

in action------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------26

Annex 3: Disaster supplies kit--------------------------------------------------------------------------29

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Introduction to the Guideline

Bangladesh is one of the countries which are suffering from adverse impact of climate change.

The geographical location of Bangladesh makes the country vulnerable to climate change.

Communities in Bangladesh are subject to potential disasters such as, floods, river erosion,

cyclones, droughts, tornadoes, cold waves, earthquakes, drainage congestion/ water logging,

arsenic contamination, salinity intrusion etc. this guideline will help to build the community

level consciousness about disaster preparedness and increase the staff’s ability to make

community people motivated to take initiative from the family level. Climate change adds a

new dimension to community risk and vulnerability by influencing the intensity of disaster and

disaster generally impacts the livelihoods of poor people physically, economically and socially.

This group of people has to go through certain vulnerabilities regarding food, shelter, health

and nutrition. Generally disaster changes daily activities of people and transforms their way of

living. People go through crisis of drinking water, shortage of food, loss of property and

unlimited distress during and after disaster.

This guideline shows the intensive impact and make all understand about the global changes

with the frequency of disaster. This guideline gives proper understanding about what to do to

prevent disaster and clarifies the need to engage community people in all activities. As the

community becomes more affected and looses the capacity to prosper, all the efforts must be

started from each family to fight against disaster and reduce the loss. This guideline not only

generalizes the staffs with the knowledge to adopt appropriate action plan but also to involve

community people for family level approaches.

Objective of this Guidebook

1. To make the staff understand about the need of family preparedness plan.

2. To make the community well concerned about the possible benefit of plan of action

through staff.

3. To promote the community with self motivation to adopt nature friendly plan of action

from family level.

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Importance of Planning for Disasters

The United Nations Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction defines

Disaster Risk Reduction in the following manner: “The concept

and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to

analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through

reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and

property, wise management of land and the environment, and

improved preparedness for adverse events”.

This definition guides us to the following aspects:

a. Disaster risk reduction is a pre-disaster phenomenon

b. It requires systematic and scientific analysis of the causes

and factors of disasters

c. It calls for reduced exposure to hazards and

vulnerabilities of the mass

d. It requires effective planning of resources

The above presented phenomenon requires for effective

management of the risk factors of disasters and hence planning

for the future becomes an important aspect in this regards.

Local communities, being the first to get affected by disaster and

last to get out has developed several indigenous to foresee,

prepare and mitigate the risks and affects of natural disasters.

However indigenous knowledge is not sufficient to fight with

natural disasters as it is not systematic in approach and

scientific in judgment. These poses significant value and

tradition of the local communities and blend in effort of local

Preparedness action is

carried out within the

context of disaster risk

management and aims

to build the capacities

needed to efficiently

manage all types of

emergencies and achieve

orderly transitions from

response through to

sustained recovery.

Preparedness is based on

a sound analysis of

disaster risks and good

linkages with early

warning systems, and

includes such activities

as contingency planning,

stockpiling of equipment

and supplies, the

development of

arrangements for

coordination, evacuation

and public information,

and associated training

and field exercises.

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mechanism and systematic effort can indeed reduce the risk of

the local communities to a great extent.

Institutional Aspect of Disasters

The most important concept in developing a disaster

management plan is communication. A staff needs to have

proper idea about the target groups and study the behavior

and attitude of community people towards disaster. When

staffs will have proper learning about the impact of disasters

based on specific area, they can motivate people and change

their mind to take proper initiatives to build a resilient

community and reduce loss. Every community member needs

to be involved so that when disaster strikes, everyone will

know what to do. Families living in disaster-prone areas, with

the ever-present risk of physical damage, are unable secure

good life style. Keeping this in mind need to prescribe disaster

preparedness activities and try to incorporate practical

livelihood management to make the community active and

interested. How well we manage the aftermath of disaster

Physical Resources

Shelter and infrastructure

will be damaged or

destroyed by an increased

frequency of flooding,

storms and climate-related

disasters.

Human Resources

Malnutrition and the

incidents of infectious

diseases are predicted to

rise with changing weather

patterns.

Social Resources

Reduced livelihood security

and prolonged or more

frequent droughts and

floods will lead to the

displacement of

communities

Financial Resources

The repeated failure of

crops or loss of

infrastructure and homes

leads to increased

household costs, decline in

income, slower economic

development and lower

livelihood security.

Environmental Resources

Increased salinity and

reduced land fertility

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depends a great deal on our level of preparedness when disaster strikes. A plan will only work

when everyone knows about it and agrees to operate within its guidelines. You need to keep

following things in your mind to provide information and make community people sensitive

about disaster.

Sustainability and Connectedness

Disaster preparedness cannot be completed without giving attention to environmental

sustainability and taking measures to stop the environmental changes that damage life.

Community people or in a broad sense human beings are to some extent working to spoil the

harmony of nature and making it bound to bring disasters. Willingly or unwillingly we are

approaching to the disaster because of our activities and for this everyone needs to get prepared

to develop knowledge about environmental degradation with climate change and pay special

attention to environment.

Disaster happens naturally and most often are in force as a consequence of human made causes.

Community people must grow the knowledge and sense to get prepared and stop harming

environment from family level. Getting prepared for the climate change will be done when

people will be aware of the environmental degradation and take the approaches in personal life.

This can happen when the sense will be developed and community people will come to learn

about the impacts of environmental degradation they are facing now and will face in future.

Also any initiatives of disaster risk reduction can’t be complete without inclusion of livelihood

aspects. Since natural disasters works as a barrier for economic solvency and ultimately

sustainable development, the linkages between disaster, poverty and sustainable development

needs to be analyzed. The following diagram captures a simple yet important aspect of this

linkage.

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Although the original idea behind the diagram is far from the scope of this guidebook, we can

utilize it for our analysis. While poverty reduction and integration of environment into

development helps us to achieve sustainable development, there lies a vicious cycle of poverty.

As development degrades the environment, so does poverty; however the catch is development

does this for economic advancement while poverty does this to meet the sheer need of daily life.

This is helpful in our analysis in a way that, natural disasters destroyer natural resources and

poor people are directly dependent on natural resource. Individual household need to keep it in

mind while preparing a preparedness plan. Please refer to Annex 2 for ‘causes of environmental

degradation and ways to bring community people into action’.

Sustainable Development

Poverty Reduction

Meeting the basic needs

Productive employment

Property rights

Population control

Environmental problems: pollution, land degradation, climate change

Integration of Environment into development

EIA

Technology for development

Migration

Renewable resources

Regional and international cooperation

Development Environmental Degradation

Poverty

Linkage between sustainable development, environment and poverty Source: ADB2002

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Stages of Development of Family Level Preparedness Plan

Developing of family level preparedness plan consists of several familiar yet very important

procedures. The stages of developing a preparedness plan are given as follows:

Identifying Appropriate Family

To identify the appropriate family we need to target the most ‘at-risk’ families and work

thoroughly with them to implement preparedness plan. To do this, we can use a scorecard

which can help us:

In case of requirement of a pre-survey it will help the field practitioners to determine the

vulnerable people simply and quickly.

It is simple and can easily be used by the filed practitioners.

This scorecard would allow us to have a ranking of the individual families and families

can be selected for plan development according to the lowest points.

Identifying Appropriate Family

Risk Identification

Action Planning

Putting the Plan into Action

Review the Plans

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Source: World Bank’s regular and highly detailed ‘Living Standards Measurement Study’

(LSMS) surveys.

Risk Identification and Analysis

For risk identification, please refer to the following PRA tools:

1. Hazard Venn: To identify and analyze the common hazards of the household, their

magnitude and likelihood.

2. Livelihoods Seasonal Calendar: To identify livelihood options and its seasonality

dimensions of the household.

3. Hazard Seasonal Calendar: To identify the occurrence and intensity period of listed hazards

and their changing trend due to ‘climate change’ in the locality.

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4. Hazard Trend Analysis: To capture the climate variability, hazard trend analysis needs to be

carried out.

5. Resource Mapping: To identify the resources available both inside and nearby the

household.

6. Facility Mapping: To identify the facilities available within the locality of the household

7. Structural and Non-structural assessment: To identify the structural and non-structural

hazard for the household

8. Capacity Assessment: To identify the capacities that the household members have for

DP/DRR

Action Planning

1. Action Planning for Hazards

Based on the Hazard Venn and Hazard Seasonal Calendar, list down the hazards, their relative

stand point in terms of potential risk for the household and the possible impacts that the hazard

can cause to the household:

Hazard Level of

threaght

Potential time

of occurance

Possible impacts

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2. Action Planning for Resource

Based on the Resource Mapping, prepare an action plan for both internal and external

resources:

Resource Quantity

Available Condition Quantity needed to buy

Internal

External

3. Action Planning for Facilities

Based on the Facility Mapping, prepare an action plan for both internal and external facilities:

Facilities Distance from house Contact details

4. Action Planning for Capacities

Based on the Capacity Assessment prepare an action plan for capacity building

Name of the household members Received training Training needs

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5. Action Planning Structural and non-structural Mitigation

Based on the Structural and Non-structural Assessment prepare an action plan for Structural

and Non-structural mitigation

Location of the problem Description of the problem Action to be taken

Structural Problem

Non-structural Problem

6. Action Planning Structural and non-structural Mitigation

Based on the Hazard Trend Analysis, prepare an action plan for climate variability by using

the following format:

Name of

Hazard

Describe

the

changes

in trend

Descrive

the

effects

caused

from the

changed

trend

Proposed

action to

be taken

Resource

needs

External

support

needs

Deadline

for activity

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Putting the Plan into Action

Based on the Risk Analysis and Action Plans, prepqare a action plan based on the follown

format:

Type of activity

needed

Who will

do it

How to

do it

Resource

needs

Resource

availables

External

supports

Deadline

for activity

Review the Plans

To review the plans, Risk Identification and Analysis and Action Plans must be

revised/updated and the plans needs to updates atleast once a year.

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Consideration for Special Groups

While analyzing the various information from the families, it must be kept in mind that the

special need of the vulnerable groups namely, women, children, aged and person with

disability are properly reflected. Also within the action plan, proper activities should be in place

for the vulnerable groups and needs to give proportionate importance. The need are different

for all groups, so in time of disaster neccesary things can be provided to all if the statistics are in

hand. In the group women, there will different needs for pregnant women or adolescent girls.

So this things can be taken into accpunt while identifying household and sheltering them in

time of disaster.

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Annex 1 : Specific Hazards, possible preparedness measures.

Flood

The term "flood" is a general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of

normally dry land areas from overflow of inland or tidal waters or from the unusual and rapid

accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source. With 46 percent of the population

living within 10 metres of sea level, millions in Bangladesh are vulnerable to floods.

Generally in two ways flood preparedness measures can be taken:

Structural:

Dig pond.

Make Dam

Help government for drainage of river.

Building barrage.

Building sluice gate.

Afforestation.

Raising Homestead.

Raising tube-wells and latrines.

Establish block on two sides of road.

Build culvert.

Make guard wall.

Non-structural:

Formation of community volunteer group.

Give them training.

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Early warning through community volunteers.

Raising awareness thorough media.

Forming disaster mitigation plan.

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Training, networking, and advocacy.

Fund raising.

Take care of the infrastructure.

Floating vegetable gardening

Including the disaster related activities in academic materials.

Partnership with government, NGO, and local voluntary groups.

Aware people to preserve dry foods for the disaster period.

Preserving fuel and movable hearth.

Include disaster preparedness in school curricula.

Involve school children in community volunteer groups.

Aware people to save money.

Identifying shelter home.

Simulation of drills.

Enough stock of medicine and food.

DRR mainstreaming in local development planning in a flood-prone area.

Strengthening connections between local communities and local governments.

Risk-awareness programme for schoolchildren and communities.

Cyclones

Cyclones are huge revolving storms caused by winds blowing around a central area of low

atmospheric pressure. Cyclones affect the coastal districts of Bangladesh and cause tremendous

damage to/loss of: housing, agricultural crops, draught animals, food stocks and sources of

drinking water. In recent years, improved cyclone preparedness has led to a considerable

reduction in loss of life.

Structural :

Build sluice gate.

Build drainage channel.

Coastal afforestation.

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Coastal embankment

Improve housing conditions

Build shelter centre, Killas for the disaster period

Mangrove forestation.

Non-structural:

Forming volunteer groups.

Training of the volunteers.

Develop community preparedness plan.

Early warning dissemination.

Public awareness through volunteers.

Drills and demonstrations.

Knowledge dissemination through films and video shows.

Publicity campaign.

Dissemination of information through Media.

Include disaster preparedness activities in school curricula.

Organize meeting, seminar, workshop, and rally with the community people.

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Warning signals in the form of flags or similar symbols should be adopted for easy

dissemination of warning signals in societies with low literacy level and with limited

communication infra-structure.

Knowledge dissemination through poster, bill board, leaflet, calendar.

Teach the technique of preserving water and food underground.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) survey on stakeholders involved in disaster

preparedness activities to identify need for training and monitor progress in public

understanding.

Try to collaborate with local government, NGOs and other partner organizations.

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Cold wave

Cold wave is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. During the

winter season, cold weather causes suffering among the elderly, homeless, young children and

vulnerable poor. The northern part of the country is particularly affected.

Plan of action:

Form community volunteer groups.

Train the volunteer to develop ethical point of view.

Identify most vulnerable and poor people.

Stock enough blanket and warm clothing.

Distribute those among people.

Earthquake

Release of energy waves called seismic waves in the crust of earth, leads to the creation of a

natural disaster called earthquake. It causes ground rupture, land slide, Tsunami (Tsunami are

large powerful waves caused by sudden displacement of large quantities of water in the sea /

ocean), floods, fire and Soil liquefaction. Richter scale is used to represent magnitude and

intensity of earthquakes. Those earthquakes which show reading of 3 on Richter scale are

usually not harmful as such, but earthquakes which show reading of 7 or more are extremely

harmful. So, more the scale of reading more harmful is the earthquake. Experts have been

forewarning a 6-7 magnitude earthquake to occur at any time which would cause unimaginable

destruction and death in a country that is ill-prepared for such a disaster.

Plan of Action:

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Form community volunteers.

Community risk assessment and formation of preparedness plan.

Training of volunteers on preparedness, first aid and rescue.

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Building knowledge for re-framing buildings' codes, guidelines, manuals and byelaws

and their strict implementation.

Inspiring community people to incorporate earthquake resistant features in all buildings

at high-risk areas.

Community awareness raising through entertainment(fun, game, drama, docudrama,

cartoon)

Distribute poster, leaflet directing measures for earthquake preparedness.

Provide knowledge to bind the heavy furniture with the wall using hook.

Information to preserve food and water.

Information to keep fire extinguisher, whistle and musk.

Involve school children for knowledge distribution and make them aware.

Trying to raise linkages with government to make all public utilities like water supply

systems, communication networks, electricity lines etc. earthquake-proof.

Giving training to the Masons, owner, engineer to construct earthquake-resistant

community buildings.

Provide technical training in schools to include disaster related topics

Train communities in high-risk areas in post-disaster search, rescue and relief.

Practice an extensive programme of mass drills in high-risk areas for earthquake

damage reduction.

Preparation of disaster related literature in local languages with dos and don'ts for

construction.

Getting communities involved in the process of disaster mitigation through education

and awareness.

River erosion

River erosion is the gradual removal of rock material from the river banks and bed. Riverbank

erosion is a severe threat to the livelihoods of poor people living along the Jamuna,

Brahmaputra, Padma, and Meghna rivers. People living on the chars are particularly vulnerable

and are forced to move frequently due to river erosion.

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Plan of action:

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Form community volunteer group.

Mobilize community to establish embankment.

Make community prepared to move in emergency.

Throw sandstone in river bank.

Afforestation.

Awareness raising to stop unplanned construction.

Afforestation on the embankment.

Focus on income generating activities.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation of the activities.

Drought

Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate, although many erroneously consider it a rare

and random event. Prolonged droughts are not common in Bangladesh. However, dry spells or

“crop droughts” can cause enormous suffering for the poor, especially for those depending on

rainfed, subsistence farming. Much of the western part of the country can be affected by

droughts, with the northwest being the most commonly affected.

Plan of Action:

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Volunteer group formation.

Community mobilization.

Information dissemination through media and entertainment.

Awareness to afforestation.

Establish deep tube well (if possible).

Establish sufficient tube wells.

Awareness to stop deforestation.

Help to build water reservoir.

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Stop wastage of water.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation of the activities.

Giving knowledge to use rain water and teach how to preserve.

Inspire to do subsistence farming and train the farmers

Landslide

The term’ landslide’ includes all varieties of mass movements of hill slopes and can be defined

as the downward and outward movement of slope forming materials composed of rocks, soils,

artificial fills or combination of all these materials along surfaces of separation by falling, sliding

and flowing, either slowly or quickly from one place to another.

Plan of Action:

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Form community volunteer groups

Provide training to aware people.

Information dissemination thorough media.

Fund raising.

Efforts should be continued to increase accuracy of forecast of landfall for enhancing

credibility of warnings to ensure preparedness and response.

Stop deforestation.

Afforestation on the hill slope.

Motivate people to not build home on hill slopes.

Stop hacking hills.

Involve school children to make them aware.

Taking shelter at shelter home during heavy rain.

Tidal Surge

Bangladesh is particularly prone to surges, because it is sited on a low-lying delta where the

Indian Ocean funnels into the Bay of Bengal. Abnormally high tide brought about by a

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combination of a deep atmospheric depression (very low pressure) over a shallow sea area, high

spring tides, and winds blowing from the appropriate direction.

Plan of Action:

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Formation of community volunteer groups.

Make disaster preparedness plan with disaster management committee

Early warning mechanisms

Considerable sophistication has been gained in storm surge forecasting. This gain

should be reflected in providing more specific information regarding surge height and

location warnings to permit effective evacuation.

Improve emergency response capabilities

Teach people to preserve water and food for disaster time.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation of the activities.

Build shelter home.

Monitor weather patterns

Advocate for public protection policies with collaboration with local government.

Cultivate a culture of disaster readiness at grassroots local community levels.

Training primary health care staff to manage and care for evacuees.

Identifying strategies to deal with mass casualties and large-scale disaster homelessness.

Dissemination of information through media.

Mangrove forestation.

Include disaster preparedness activities in school curricula.

Regular preparedness drills.

Identifying the best routes for transporting the injured, food and first aid supplies.

Saline intrusion

Saline intrusion is the influx of sea water into an area that is not normally exposed to high

salinity levels. This could be the inflow of seawater into a fresh water wetland or a fresh water

aquifer.

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Plan of Action:

Attention must be paid to improving water and infrastructure management with the

collaboration of government.

Protecting the low lying agricultural land in the coastal belt from inundation and

infusion of saline water during high tide by making embankments

Provide logistics and operational support.

Increase community participation in disaster management training, workshop and rally.

Motivate the people to stop shrimp farming as it is damages the fertility of land.

Damaged embankments and dikes need to be repaired.

Silted rivers and canals need to be dredged to allow for proper drainage and water flow.

Surface water irrigation systems need to be developed.

Mangrove forestation.

Seeds tolerant to saline and other stresses must be provided to the farmers.

Farmers need to be trained in new agricultural practices, from modifying cropping

patterns in order to cope with changing weather to ensuring the balanced use of

fertilizers and modern machinery.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation of the activities.

Tornado

Tornado is a violently rotating column of air, which extends from a thunderstorm to the

ground. Bangladesh also suffers from tornadoes and strong storms, which mostly occur in the

central and northwestern area of the country during the pre- and post-monsoon period. Reports

of tornadoes are not well-documented in Bangladesh and most studies have relied on

newspaper accounts.

Plan of action:

Form union disaster management committee, Upazila Disaster Management Committee.

Formation of community volunteers and provide training.

Early warning through megaphones and microphones

Establish shelter home.

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Make a disaster plan.

Build partnership with other organizations to purchase Doppler Radar and train local

forecasters to operate and maintain the new equipment.

Awareness through entertainment (stage drama, cartoon, folk song)

Train media to disseminate right information before disaster.

Involve school children in the community volunteer group.

Make disaster management committee more active to monitor progress.

Fund raising.

Teach technique to preserve food and water.

Build shelter home.

Taking shelter in buildings.

Train people to build tornado resistance building.

Capacity development of staff on CBDRR.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation of the activities.

Mock drills of evacuation.

Linkage with BMD for proper warning dissemination.

Arsenic Contamination:

Intermittent incidents of arsenic contamination in groundwater can arise both naturally and

industrially. The natural occurrence of arsenic in groundwater is directly related to the

arsenic complexes present in soils. Arsenic can liberate from these complexes under some

circumstances. The alluvial and deltaic sediments containing pyrite has favored the arsenic

contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh. The groundwater in Bangladesh has declined

progressively due to the excessive extraction of water for irrigation and domestic water

supply, lack of water management and inadequate recharge of the aquifer. Excessive

groundwater extraction may be the vital reason for creating a zone of aeration in clayey and

peaty sediments containing arseno-pyrite. The mobilization of arsenic is further enhanced

by the compaction of aquifers caused by groundwater withdrawal.

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Plan of action:

Encourage to use alternative sources of drinking water like pond sand filters and

rainwater.

Encourage using of surface water and it could be purified by filtration.

Removal of arsenic by chemical precipitation: Coagulants such as the salts of aluminium

and iron should be used to remove the arsenic from domestic drinking water.

Development of sewage and waste disposal system to prevent the contamination by

creating partnership with local government.

Make people conscious for less use of ground water for irrigation and develop alternative

system to save rain water.

Aware community people to stop wastage of water.

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Annex 2: causes of environmental degradation and ways to bring community people

into action’

Some causes that lead to environmental degradation:

Deforestation: it spoils the environmental balance and leads to soil erosion, river bank

erosion and drought. Shortage of water, food, fuel, fodder and shelter are some general

consequences in a community because of deforestation. More over carbon dioxide is

increased in the air and results in global warming which is responsible for climate

change and sea level rise. World’s low lying countries will be drowned by flooding and

people will turn into refugees.

Inappropriate use of land: when the land is not used in a proper way it reduces the

fertility and productivity. Community people must get concerned that same crops

cannot be planted in every season as it destroys the fertility. Even the harmful crops can

work for climate change and less production will only lead to environmental imbalance

but also to poverty which is a disaster for poor people.

Excessive use of chemical fertilizer: chemical fertilizer is destructive to nature and also

to health. It reduces the productivity and causes many diseases. More over it is

responsible for climate change which enforces natural disasters.

Throwing wastage here and there: this is a reason of environmental pollution and is

harmful for environment. Moreover burning of wastage creates fume which is also liable

for climate change. In time of flood, this wastage gets merged with water and pollutes

the environment and causes health diseases. If community people get aware of this they

can lower the risk of health and environment with small initiative of disposing waste in

a proper place.

Less use of sanitary latrine: this is another reason related to environmental pollution

and can be disastrous in time of disaster. Releasing stool in open place spread many

bacteria’s and specially again in disaster time it will make the health situation and the

environment worst.

Air pollution: air pollution can be occurred by many causes like burning of fuels,

burning of wastage, not using latrines and vehicles run in the urban area. All these helps

to raise CFCs which is responsible for climate change.

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Inappropriate infrastructure development: inappropriate infrastructure leads to the

environmental degradation like building new homes by cutting forest, hacking mud

from hills, building infrastructure by destroying coastal forestry. These not only

damage the balance of environment but also bring vulnerability by creating disaster like

land slide, river erosion, drought and flood for the community people.

Destroying bio-diversity & extinction of indigenous species: this will have future

impact on us and human being will suffer as we all are dependent on each other. All are

important for the existence of the world but deforestation, excessive use of chemical

fertilizer is responsible for the extinction of birds, useful insects. In future it will reduce

the production and balance of ecosystem. To be careful to climate change, we need to get

careful about saving all animals.

These above mentioned causes are responsible for the environmental degradation and it has the

correlation with climate change and natural disasters. Sustainable development which is the

major concern for every community will be achieved when environment will be harmonized

and will be given the importance. One thing we need to keep in mind that nature does not harm

us until we do not create the option. Community people who are the major caretaker of the

environment can be brought into the framework by making providing them proper knowledge

and support.

Some ways to bring community people into force:

Provide them knowledge on the interrelation among environmental degradation,

climate change and disaster.

Give them scope to share their experience about sudden changes came in terms of

climate and disaster.

Make them understand about human made impacts on disaster.

Knowledge dissemination on environmental degradation and its impact on food,

shelter, income generation and specially poverty.

Aware them to plant trees and provide saplings free of cost.

Suggestion to adopt environment friendly livelihood.

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Awareness to not use chemical fertilizer and stop misuse of land.

Proper water management must be done with other partner organizations help and

involve community people here.

Make people aware to save species and dispose the wastage properly.

Make the farmer aware about alternative farming system.

Disaster risk reduction and environmental consciousness will help to bring sustainable

development. Some changes we cannot stop but at least we can try to move forward with a

demand of ensuring healthy ecosystem which will reduce natural disaster. Community people

are most often dependent on nature and they need to know the importance of saving the

environment. We can provide them knowledge and support so that they can take the

implementation from family level and reduce their vulnerability or contribute to stop the

climatic hazard.

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Annex 3:

Disaster supplies kit –

1. Water 2. Food 3. Medicine 4. First aid kit: 5. Tools and supplies:

Knowledge

dissemination to

preserve water in

jar by placing it

inside the hole

properly sealed

with mud.

Have purifying

agents available.

Provide knowledge

to preserve dry

foods (chira, muri,

rice, molasses) in

container.

Preserve Staples -

sugar, salt,

pepper

Teach techniques to

preserve rice under

ground for the

disaster time being

Fever tablets,

saline

Gauze pads

Triangular bandages (3)

2 & 3-inch sterile roller

bandages (3 rolls each)

Scissors

Tweezers

Needle

Safety razor blade

Bar of soap

Antiseptic spray

Non-breakable

thermometer

Cleansing agent - soap

Plates and plastic utensils

Battery operated radio

Flashlight and extra

batteries

Cash

Tape

Matches in a waterproof

container

Plastic storage containers

Paper, pencil

Needles, thread