Collective Actions for Resilient Urban

Areas

Islamic Relief Worldwide - Bangladesh

House No: 10, Road No: 10, Block-K, Baridhara, Dhaka-1212

Web: www.islamicrelief.com

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April 2012

Documentation and Compilation

M. Mizanur Rahman

Programme Officer (Monitoring, Evaluation and Research)

Islamic Relief Worldwide-Bangladesh

Mohammad Simon Rahman

Programme Officer (Media, Communication and Advocacy)

Islamic Relief Worldwide-Bangladesh

Research Associate

Tania Sufi and Nushrat Rahman Chowdhury

Intern

Islamic Relief Worldwide-Bangladesh

Concept, Supervision and Coordination

Syed Shahnawaz Ali

Programme Manager

Islamic Relief Worldwide-Bangladesh

Javed Ameer

Head of Programmes

Islamic Relief Worldwide-Bangladesh

Photo

Shumon Ahmed & IRW-B Sylhet Team

Contact

Islamic Relief Worldwide - Bangladesh

House No: 10, Road No: 10, Block-K, Baridhara,

Dhaka-1212

Web: www.islamicrelief.com

This document has been prepared under the 6th DIPECHO Action Plan for South Asia implemented by

Islamic Relief Worldwide-Bangladesh working under the NARRI consortium. Islamic Relief Worldwide-

Bangladesh preserves the copyright of this but it can be quoted or printed with proper acknowledgement. It

has been produced with financial assistance from European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil

Protection (ECHO). The views expressed herein should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official

opinion of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

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Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3

2. Intrinsic Risks, Immediate Measures .......................................................................... 4

3. Major Urban Hazards in Bangladesh .......................................................................... 4

4. Urban Characteristics Making DRR Difficult ............................................................. 6

5. Exploring Community Strengths in Reducing Risks .................................................. 8

6. Need for Comprehensive Approach with Mass Awareness ........................................ 9

7. Urban Safety Interventions of IRW in Sylhet ........................................................... 10

8. IRW‟s Community Based Approach for Urban Safety ............................................. 11

9. Roles of Different Community Groups in Sylhet: ..................................................... 12

10. Linkage and Coordination among Various Groups: .................................................. 16

11. Major Activities Promoting Urban Safety ................................................................. 17

12. Conclusion: ................................................................................................................ 19

Annexure-01: .................................................................................................................... 20

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Collective Actions for Resilient Urban Areas

1. Introduction

Urbanization is believed to be both – a cause and effect of economic growth, employment

generation and overall development of any country. It is here to stay. The present paper

does not get into the merits or demerits of the phenomenon but, assuming it is here to

stay, looks at the various aspects of how do we build a disaster preparedness into it for an

overall risk reduction in urban areas. In 1981, Amartya Sen described cities as places of

refuge from famine where food stores, economic opportunity and political accountability

provided a buffer from environmental change. Expansion of urban population and urban

construction have been so alarming that urban safety has become a crucial issue now-a-

days, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh where rate of population growth

(particularly in urban areas) is high, huge amount of money is being invested in planning

and development of infrastructure, however the route taken for greater urbanization has

been contentious and arguments can be proffered for and against it. The urban areas of

developing countries have 80 per cent of world‟s urban population and in the Asian

context, around 40 per cent of the total population lives in the urban areas. For better

income opportunity, after-effects of disasters in the rural area, better education and health

facilities and so many other factors attract people to the cities. With this pace of

increasing population, urban vulnerabilities are also increasing rapidly.

Reducing the urban risk which is never a one sided approach, has come centre stage of

development in many developing countries including Bangladesh. The Hyogo

Framework for Action 2005-2015 considers that both communities and local authorities

should be empowered to manage and reduce disaster risk by having access to the

necessary information, resources and authority to implement action. The challenge of

involving local authority in Bangladesh is different regarding urban risk though it is

considered as one of the global leaders in disaster management and risk reduction. Local

authorities have been administering cyclone, flood, and river erosion for years but have

little experience to handle earthquake, fire, water logging since these are comparatively

new hazard. Reducing and managing urban risk is rarified further due to other factors like

very few capacity building initiatives, disintegrated policies, long-drawn-out decision-

making process and financial constraint. Most of the community people of urban areas

are also not familiar with urban risk. Especially the newly migrated people do not realize

their own vulnerability. A holistic approach involving both the local authority and the

community people is needed to make linkage and carry on outgrowth. Considering that

urban risk reduction has to take a comprehensive and collaborative approach, Islamic

Relief Worldwide (IRW-B) has come up with an approach where the communities have

been empowered with a very good knowledge level on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR),

skill of response in case of emergency, and coordination with different relevant bodies to

assess and minimize their risks.

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2. Intrinsic Risks, Immediate Measures

According to the Global Climate

Risk Index 2010, an average of

8,241 people died each year in

244 cases of extreme weather

conditions in Bangladesh, with

the damage amounting to over $2

billion a year and a GDP loss of

1.81%, during 1990-2008 (The

Daily Star, October 7). Day by

day, disasters are going to be the

main agents of human crises and

also threat to economy

worldwide. In 2010 only, 385 natural disasters killed more than 297,000 people

worldwide, affected over 217 million others and caused $123.9 billion damages. 131

countries were hit by these natural disasters, though only 10 accounted for 120 of the 385

disasters (31.2%) (ADSR: 2010).

In line with these, our vulnerability to different hazards is also increasing. Frequent

earthquakes in India, China and Japan, flood in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, drought in

China, series of storms in the Philippines have added a new dimension to thinking for

disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region (Rahman, 2011). Again, frequent

earthquakes, tsunami and other urban hazards in this region have made Bangladesh

concentrate not only on the common rural hazards but also on the urban ones. Besides

this, there are a number of reasons for which the country has now moved to focus on

urban risk reduction in a comprehensive way.

3. Major Urban Hazards in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world due to its geological

location and being prone to major urban hazards that include earthquake, flood, tsunami

and fire etc. Many cities in Bangladesh are increasingly becoming the concentration of its

major functions with huge amount of physical, economic, social, political and cultural

assets. These areas are characterized by high density of population, which results in higher

exposures to risks. The combination of high vulnerability and exposure is posing higher

degree of risk in all these urban areas.

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Among the urban hazards,

earthquake, fire and water-logging

are more common when the first one

can have a macro-level impact and

the later two can be liable for their

micro-level impact. The adjoining

figure shows the earthquake zones of

Bangladesh with Basic Seismic

Coefficients.

3.1 Earthquake

Earthquake is an everpresent dormant

and absolutely unpredictable hazard

that can hit with destructive alacrity.

There is no early warning and it

hardly provides you with any time to

prepare and respond immediately.

Moreover, we are making ourselves

more vulnerable to earthquake

through our expanded and unplanned

urbanisation despite being aware of its ferocity. (Rahman, 2012). Even though it may

lasts only for couple of minutes, the damages it causes are huge.

“According to a recent survey around 250,000 buildings in the three major cities of

Bangladesh; Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes.

Some 142,000 among 180,000 buildings in Chittagong; 24,000 out of 52,000 in Sylhet;

and 78,000 out of 326,000 buildings in Dhaka were detected as risky” (Source CDMP

Report). Bangladesh has already experienced several small earthquakes in the recent

years. The frequencies are increasing every year, so the chance of facing a big earthquake

is very likely in the coming days. We can take the example of Dhaka, the capital of the

country with more than ten million people where maximum of the buildings are located.

This city is predicted to be badly affected if an earthquake of more than 7 magnitude hits

the city.

Table 1: List of Major Earthquakes Affecting Bangladesh

Date Magnitude/

scale

Damages during the earthquake

1918,

18 July

7.6 Srimangal Earthquake had epicenter at Srimangal, Maulvi

Bazar (close to Sylhet). Intense damage occurred in

Srimangal, but in Dhaka only minor effects were observed.

1930, 2 July 7.1 Dhubri Earthquake caused major damage in the eastern

parts of Rangpur district.

1997,

22

6.0 It caused minor damage around Chittagong town.

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November

1999,

22 July

5.2 Severely felt around Maheshkhali island and the adjoining

Sea. Houses cracked and in some cases collapsed.

2003,

27 July

5.1 Occurred at Kolabunia union of Barkal upazila, Rangamati

district.

2011,

February 4th

6.4 It shook a large part of the country. Epicenter was at India-

Myanmar border region, 291km from Sylhet, 392km from

port city Chittagong, and 453km from capital Dhaka. The

ground shook for a "lengthy" period.

3.2 Fire

Fire is a frequently occurring hazard in the urban areas of the country due to an

increasing number of people getting involved in the economic, industrial and other

activities. Big cities in Bangladesh including Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet are prone to

this hazard also because of rapid and unplanned urbanization and the absence of adequate

safety measures. The fast increasing population in combustible shanties further

contributes to the increasing risk of fire. Best of intentions and emergency plans of the

Government combined with a weak political will for disaster preparedness and lack of

resources further increases the risk of large-scale fires.

Safety and Rights Society‟s annual study published in national and local daily

newspapers reported death of 383 workers in 270 workplace accidents in 2010 compared

with 265 deaths in 227 workplaces the year before. Not only in the workplaces but also

the urban slums have become crucial places where density of population is very high but

safety measure for fire is almost nil. So, with increasing urbanization, incidents of fire

and risks of fire are increasing in the country.

3.3 Urban flooding

Even a mild rainfall (time and again) creates water logging and affects the life and works

of people in the cities. A lack of good and efficient drainage system results in rainwater

submerging the roads in low lying areas. Unplanned urbanization and ever-increasing

demographic pressure on the cities are mainly responsible for this.

4. Urban Characteristics Making DRR Difficult

Working in urban areas for Disaster Risk Reduction is not an easy task for a number of

complex and diverse factors of urban areas in Bangladesh. These major cities are fast

becoming the center of new vulnerabilities adding risks of earthquake, flood, fire, road

accidents and health hazards. In case of Bangladesh, rapid urban growth has come with

many challenges to city authorities and other stakeholders. These underlying urban risk

factors have already made implementation of urban safety more critical than any other

built environment.

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Some of the common factors are summarized below:

4.1 Ever increasing population

About 40% of Bangladeshis live in urban areas and the population growth in Bangladesh

is happening at a very rapid pace reported to be 2.85 (Source World bank report 2010).

By 2040, the total population of Bangladesh will hit 230 million mark, where 52% will

live in urban areas. It is projected that by 2020, population of Dhaka city alone will grow

to 20 million making it the world‟s third largest city. The density of Dhaka has

alarmingly reached to 27.700 people per square kilometer. According to Bangladesh

Bureau of Statistics, annually 300,000 to 400,000 people, mostly from rural areas

continue to be added to the total population of Dhaka city. Natural disasters and lack of

income opportunity in the rural areas contribute largely to increase in urban population.

Lack of resources available in cities has forced majority of population to live in high risk

marginal and squatter settlements without access to basic services.

4.2 Unplanned urbanisation

Rapid and unplanned urban growth in Bangladesh is feeding into the growth of slums

with low or no access to basic services ultimately reinforcing poverty. The urbanization

does not take into account any protection measures for population against any hazard or

disaster. The developers are cashing in on every bit of available vacant land for building

new high-rise buildings by subverting the urban planning systems and procedures. They

are shortsighted and are only geared towards optimization of land which results specially

in roads being kept very narrow in most parts of the cities. This has made it tougher for

the emergency responders to approach the affected areas in past few incidents of fire

outbreaks. In most part of the cities, old buildings and the weak infrastructure pose a

constant threat to human life in hazards such as fires, earthquakes and floods.

4.3 Urban DRR – a conflicting priority

Diverse societal structure, opportunist political system, lack of administrative capacities,

very poor resource generation capabilities, archaic urban planning and development

legislation etc. collectively contributes to making cities of Bangladesh more vulnerable to

disaster risks. Appropriate governance and decision making system is the core of risk

reduction in urban areas but this does not exist adequately in the present system. DRR

invariably takes the back seat to other needs which may be considered more pressing or

populist for the politicians and easier to address by administrators, in the country.

Lacking sound knowledge on preparedness contributes to unsound planning for

emergency response and humanitarian assistance in times of disasters.

4.4 Lack of knowledge and capacity

Urban safety is a complicated issue. Accidents like a fire outbreak occurs more frequently

but have had minimum impact on human life grossly as flood or cyclone do. Meanwhile,

an earthquake might create a macro level impact, but such an earthquake would occur

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very rarely. As a result, the urban population has not developed any coping mechanism

against these hazards.

The process of disaster risk reduction inclusive project planning and execution remains a

major weakness. Most of the administrators do not have any past experience of handling

urban hazards, particularly earthquake, to bank upon. There are also not many dedicated

programmes in urban areas of Bangladesh, and it will require sizeable time, investment

and political will to integrate disaster risk reduction within ongoing city operations and

planning.

4.5 Human mobility and lack of cohesion

With an ever-fluid and migrant population comprising the urban masses with no fixed

area most of the times committing to and undertaking awareness raising initiatives

becomes very difficult. Lack of trust, and cut-throat commercialization also keeps people

away from each other and thus, they cannot plan and/or undertake any collaborative

efforts for risk reduction. Risk reduction there is least of their priority.

4.6 Social challenges

The people in some of the major cities including Sylhet are very religious. Many of them

have a strong belief that Sylhet will not be affected by any major disaster because it is the

holy land consisting of the shrines of many a religious saints like Hazrat Shah Jalal (RA)

and Hazrat Shah Paran (RA). This also contributes to lack of interest for any disaster

preparedness.

In 1987, the Great Indian Earthquake occurred and took life of 545 people. More than

100 years has been passed. The present generations have not yet experienced any massive

tremor and seen the destruction of earthquake. This is one of the underlying facts which

is keeping the community people aloof from taking preparedness.

Due to prevailing social norms women in some of the major cities are not permitted to

move freely and thus, restricted from getting involved in public events which is a much

essential component for mass awareness-raising. Most of the targeted population in urban

areas are rich and mostly exhibit reluctance to spend time for community based activities;

failing to realize that the people blessed with more resources actually are more at risk of

losing it all to any hazard or disaster and need to take a more proactive approach and role

in disaster preparedness.

5. Exploring Community Strengths in Reducing Risks

Taking into consideration the role that the communities can play in reducing the

underlying risk factors of the major hazards and the people are at the core of the disaster

risk reduction at different levels, some countries have already been working with the

communities in order to decrease the loss from small- and medium-scale disasters. Some

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successes have already been achieved by Duryog Nivaran, a network of organizations

and individuals who used this community focused approach in South Asia including

Bangladesh.

These success stories apparently indicate the abilities of local communities and

encourage different bodies to work with the communities for urban disaster risk

reduction. Though, there are many challenges in working with urban communities, there

are also some positives aspects that increase the chances of success for the community

based approach. Specifically, there are some potential strengths for which community

based approach can be adopted in the urban areas. Such as,

1. The community knows its risks

better than the external people and

authorities. They also have

indigenous knowledge and local

experience to cope with local

disasters that are less known to

outsiders.

2. Higher population helps to find

community members who have the

scope and enthusiasm to help and

volunteer for such initiatives.

3. It is easy to get access to the

government/ non-government service providers in the urban areas.

4. The literacy rate is higher in the urban areas and thus dissemination of information for

awareness building across the community is comparatively easier in the urban areas.

5. The quality and availability of transport system and other necessary services are

better in urban areas compared to rural.

6. A larger number of students come to urban school compared to rural areas. One

training session can educate many students from just one school, so the dissemination

of the message across the target community can be faster.

Since the urban areas are the nerve centers of the country, it is easy to approach

development or emergency specialists. So the preparations of training sessions are more

feasible and emergency responses can be faster. Now, for urban risk reduction,

capitalizing on all these things is very crucial. We need to explore more and more

potential strengths in the communities and after doing that we need to encourage and

facilitate them on how they can use their strengths to reduce their own vulnerabilities to

hazards.

6. Need for Comprehensive Approach with Mass Awareness

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The expanding scale of urban vulnerability and pressures can one day result in great

tragedy if we ignore it today. It is not an easy task for the government or any other

private organization alone and it calls for a more comprehensive and unified actions from

all the actors. There is an immediate need for a strong and increasing government

commitment towards urban disaster risk reduction initiatives. The government needs to

formulate policy and encourage common people to be more proactive in learning and

taking measures to reduce their vulnerabilities. Mass public awareness is one of the major

pre-requisite when sincerity and transparency of all the concerned people come as second

priority.

The vibrant NGO community has to expand their resources, efforts and proven abilities to

deliver effective risk reduction programmes with a focus on developing innovative ways

to create safer urban environment at community levels. There is no simple, standardized,

widely-accepted approach for an urban community to detect their risks and come up with

a set of measures to minimize disaster risks. In such a situation, the communities need to

find and develop their own approach to examine the problem and/or use information

readily provided to them. There is a strong need for every single member of the

community to increase their level of participation, knowledge and skills required in order

to transform into safe and healthy future generation.

7. Urban Safety Interventions of IRW in Sylhet

Islamic Relief Worldwide started work

on urban risk reduction in Sylhet in

2007. It initially was able to cover 3

wards from Sylhet City Corporation

under the 3rd

DIPECHO Action Plan

funded by ECHO. Under the following

three DIPECHO Action Plans, IRW

worked in 06 wards in each of its

project phases. Currently, under the 6th

DIPECHO Action Plan, IRW has

selected the wards 01, 03, 14, 16, 17

and 27, where it is working with the

community for awareness raising on

urban hazards such as earthquake, water-logging and fire outbreak. The major

interventions are training events for preparatory knowledge and emergency response

capacity building, risk and resource mapping, contingency planning and risk reduction

action planning, equipment for stock-building, dissemination of information materials for

awareness raising and advocacy at the policy level through the community. Aiming at

community based approach, the project formed community based organizations at

different levels to ensure community participation and sustainability of the objectives.

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The relationship and the mutual understanding of IRW-B and the community people can

be considered as a huge social capital for the community people and as well as for IRW-

B. This worthy social capital was not built in a day. Certain steps were taken and stages

were gone through to reach to the final phase. The active participation of the community

people has helped IRW-B to come up with unique approaches over there to reduce the

risk of urban hazards and thus to promote urban safety, which has got acceptance and

proved its merit in the community.

8. IRW’s Community Based Approach for Urban Safety

The urban safety approach adopted by Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW-B) is a harbinger

for rooting its work further into the communities and has set the ground to effectively

address the underlying causes of their vulnerabilities in the urban areas of Bangladesh.

IRW-B is working to foster the existing capacities of the people and promoting self

sufficient communities for urban risk reduction. IRW-B has facilitated the process

through organising strong community groups in the working areas. These groups connect

to individual households and other local communities including civil service providers.

The members of these community groups work very sincerely especially in terms of

learning things, disseminating knowledge, taking actions, coordinating with relevant

bodies and taking all other required measures for urban disaster management. They are

provided with different capacity building trainings and for them to be skilled, equipped

and possess a very strong motivation and dedication to be a bridge between IRW-B and

the masses.

The community based approach of IRW-B has certain stages through which it passes.

The community based approach is segmented into three stages.

8.1 Inception stage

IRW-B started with organizing project inception workshops at different levels of the

community to give an idea of the project objectives to the people and also to show the

community stakeholders‟ roles in it. This stage is all about making people aware of the

tasks what they are going to implement,

making them aware of the issues

relevant to the tasks, sensitizing them

on those and finally mobilizing them so

that they can take the leadership in

reducing their risks of hazards.

8.2 Consolidation stage

After the process of mobilisation,

various community based organizations

(CBOs) are formed at different levels

of the community such as Ward

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Disaster Management Committee (WDMC), Community Volunteers Group (CVG),

School Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), and clusters/mohallah groups. Thus

the ownership is transferred to the community through involving the CBOs at each ward

for conducting ward wise risk, vulnerability and capacity assessment, preparing

contingency plans and developing risk reduction action plans with necessary measures to

reduce their own risks.

In this phase, knowledge and skill is also transferred to the community through different

trainings, such as basic training on DRR, urban risk assessment, first aid, search and

rescue, school safety, fire safety, training of religious leaders, training on safe

construction for engineers, architects, masons, bar binders etc. Equipments are given to

these community groups to ensure effective response from their end during an

emergency.

8.3 Phase-out stage

Throughout the process, a linkage is developed between these community based groups

and the stakeholders and service providers so that once the project phases out, the

coordination between these groups and the stakeholders can carry forward the tasks and

ensure the practice of DRR across the community. In this final phase, the full ownership

and responsibilities are given to the community people or community groups with a

planned division of work and responsibilities to all. For sustainability of the initiatives, it

is ensured that the community will

continue and perform their

responsibilities as they do in the project

period.

9. Roles of Different Community Groups in Sylhet

There are some well structured and well

functioning groups formed by IRW-B

in Sylhet. All these groups have some

specific roles and responsibilities for

reducing the disaster risks in that area.

Moreover, there is a strong

collaboration mechanism among these

groups. The figures below show the

formation and coordination mechanism

of different groups over there:

Now let us have a look on the detail of

these groups:

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9.1 Ward Disaster Management Committee (WDMC)

City Corporation Disaster Management Committee (CCDMC) is the lowest tier of

Disaster Management Committee working in an urban setting as per the Standing Order

of Disaster of Bangladesh Government. Under the project, IRW-B replicated the structure

of the CCDMC and formed Ward level Disaster Management Committees in the

respective wards. The view was to introduce the concept and need of a central disaster

management body representing the government and liaising with the relevant government

authorities.

WDMCs comprise influential people from

the community willing to provide volunteer

services and who are well accepted among

other community members. This generally

includes Ward Councilor, teachers,

freedom fighters, engineers, doctors,

service-holders, local club / volunteer

group leaders, religious leaders etc. Playing

a guardianship role in community based

approach for disaster risk reduction, the

WDMC works at the policy level and also

serves as the bridge between the

government stakeholders and the other

community groups working on DRR. The WDMC also supports the community

volunteers and other groups with their social resources to undertake DRR initiatives.

9.2 Community Volunteer Groups (CVG)

The next level of community based group to work alongside WDMC as supporting

structure is the community volunteer group. Both perform separate functions. WDMC

plays more of a guardianship role mostly doing the coordination and advocacy part while

ensuring a close monitoring and guidance, while the volunteers group works at the core

and directly with the community. Community volunteer groups in each ward include

some highly motivated and enthusiastic community members willing to spend most of

their available time for the risk reduction and other developmental activities in the

community.

IRW-B builds their capacities on disaster risk reduction with different trainings and thus

these volunteers are prepared as first level of community responders for future disasters.

These volunteers go door to door and institutions to raise awareness and help them

prepare to reduce the risks. They are the important agents for the continuation of this

community based approach as they arrange regular meetings to chalk out their own plan

for different self-led initiatives for preparing their community for a disaster beyond the

project duration.

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The model attempts to link these

volunteer groups with the already

existing local clubs to promote

collective critical consciousness

that finally leads to local action.

This is done through introducing

the proactive and permanent

members of local clubs into the

newly formed disaster

management committees as well

as community volunteer groups.

As a result, a resource group is

being developed within the local

established clubs who will take

lead in strengthening community

capacity in terms of DRR both

through their own institutions as

well as with the community based

groups formed through urban

safety initiatives under various

projects.

The transfer of knowledge and

skill also takes place at the same

time as the members of the DRR

groups are able to share the

awareness and expertise within

their institutions. On the whole,

the issues related to DRR are

strongly interlinked and mainstreamed with their social actions under the agenda of their

individual clubs and institutions.

9.3 Cluster/ Mohallah groups

The cluster or mohallah groups are formed with people from the community who are

directly exposed to the urban risk and are quite unaware of the basic preparedness and

response measures. The volunteer groups with support from the WDMC and other

community stakeholders work directly in these clusters to raise the awareness of the

community members and to ensure that the learning is translated into practice at

household and institutional level. The volunteers or the WDMC members raise the

awareness of these people through different sessions and with different IEC materials,

video shows and other media. The members of cluster group as the end receiver take

household preparedness measure after being aware of these issues. These groups are very

important as they take the learning into practice and translate the awareness into

household level implementation of safety measures.

Case 1: Community Initiated Campaign The community volunteers’ group of Ward#17 in Sylhet City Corporation has been working for raising community awareness on earthquake safety since the group was formed by IRW under the 6th DIPECHO Action Plan. Recently they arranged a community based awareness program at one of the local schools. The volunteers arranged the programme in coordination with a local club Waves Social Welfare Club. Among the activities of the daylong event, they included an art competition for the school children on the theme of ‘earthquake safety both at home and school’ and also a discussion session on ‘what the stakeholders can do for ensuring resilience against earthquake’. Mr. Syed Ashfak Ahmed, the honorable Upazila Chairman, was invited as the chief guest for the event and 05 Ward Councilors of the City Corporation were present during the occasion as special guests.

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(Please see annexure-1 for selection criteria, group formation and roles and responsibilities of

the different groups)

9.4 School Disaster Management Committee (SDMC)

In the urban risk reduction approach of IRW-B, schools have been given much

importance. IRW-B has formed School Disaster Management Committees (SDMCs) with

students, teachers and guardians. The objective of working with the schools is to prepare

these institutions for potential disasters as schools are densely populated institutions with

children, one of the most vulnerable groups during an emergency. As the children are

efficient learners and good means for dissemination of the learning at household and

Case 2: Community Initiated Mock Drill

The volunteers of Ward no: 17 at Sylhet demonstrated a mock drill in February, 2012. The entire

effort taken up by the community was the result of a collective utilization of social capital in

terms of financial support and coordination.

The responsibility of the entire simulation drill was assigned to the local Fire Service and Civil

Defense (FSCD) by the local community and the process was facilitated by the community

volunteers in coordination with IRW-B who are working in this ward for community-based

disaster risk reduction. The majority of the expenditure was borne by the community stakeholders

themselves. Waves Social Welfare Club, a locally established club that works for different

community welfare objectives and the Surma Super Market businessmen‟s committee jointly

took the cost for the entire programme.

The market is situated in one of the busiest parts of the city. The six-storied building has around

75 shops in its ground floor while there is the office of a Government bank (Sonali Bank) on the

2nd

and 3rd

floor. The top three floors of the building are used for residential purpose occupied by

35 families (158 people). So the volunteers picked this building as it covered both household

level and institutional level safety through the simulation.

IRW-B provided them with necessary technical supports, especially tagging them with FSCD.

The community volunteers developed their coordination with the local fire service authority

during a training programme on Fire Fighting and Search and Rescue that was arranged by IRW

for its community volunteer groups under the 6th DIPECHO Action Plan. Based on that

coordination, the community volunteers planned out the mock drill at the market level with

support from FSCD. For their long-term working experience on community based DRR, the

volunteers involved IRW-B as well in their plans and IRW ensured their share of contribution

though this was not in their project intervention plans.

After several days of planning, on the eve before the main event, the community volunteers

alongside the members from both Waves Club and the Surma market committee acted out the

entire process of the drill in the building and demonstrated the roles of each for the simulation.

They invited and informed the community people from different level to attend the event and

shared the message as part of their social responsibility and especially the presence of the Mayor

and other important government officials enhanced the significance of the event.

On the scheduled day, when the simulation drill, hundreds of people on the road watched on as

spectators as the building got affected by a fire outbreak (simulated through smoke and false fire

alarm) and the community volunteers worked in cohesion with the FSCD staff. The local

volunteers group responded first with their protective gears on and tried to minimize the damage

and helped some of the victims evacuate the building. Meanwhile the FSCD team arrived on the

scene and conducted a comprehensive operation to extinguish the fire and then search and rescue

the victims inside. The volunteers helped them out with providing first aid support to the rescued

but injured victims.

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community level, IRW-B tries to use

their potential to develop a conscious

future generation. For making the

SDMCs more effective, these have been

linked with the School Management

Committee and the scout groups in the

schools so that they can inter-link their

objectives and DRR can be

mainstreamed into the overall school

agenda round the year.

Along with all these community groups,

IRW-B is working with some other important institutions like hospitals, markets,

construction agencies, religious institutions etc. where there is higher risk of casuality due

to any hazard. IRW-B in coordination with DGHS (govt. department concerned) is

providing trainings to the doctors and nurses on mass casualty management and preparing

them to act on emergency situations as first and effective responders.

IRW-B is also working for the capacity building of the masons, engineers and bar binders

for safer construction. Apart from the community volunteers IRW-B is training the

religious leaders from the target communities who have large acceptance in the

community and can play a vital role in dissemination of DRR knowledge across the

community people. The religious leaders are given the basic DRR knowledge which they

disseminate during their weekly preaching with a guaranteed mass gathering.

Figure: 2

10. Linkage and Coordination among Various Groups:

The project is designed and implemented in a way so that there is constant coordination

and linkage between the community-based groups formed at different levels. Each of the

cluster groups ensures participation from potential members of the community

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volunteers, thus the active volunteers with leadership qualities are represented in the

WDMC groups in each ward, and thus the linkage and coordination between each of the

tier of the community is ensured throughout the project.

IRW-B is also facilitating the community groups to have a strong coordination with the

local government authorities and other relevant stakeholders especially the members from

the civil society, who have a good name in that area. This coordination and linkage helps

the groups get access to those officials when necessary and thus these linkages promote

the scope of advocacy that the community groups take forward to them on the basis of the

Risk Reduction Action Plan (RRAP) that they developed by themselves.

11. Major Activities Promoting Urban Safety

IRW-B makes different interventions to enhance the capacity and social strength of the

community. Following are the major interventions under the project:

Risk and Resource Mapping and Planning: IRW-B is facilitating the groups to

recognize their own risks and resources and chalk out a risk reduction action plan to

be implemented by their own initiatives. The process is conducted through Urban

Risk Assessment (URA) involving the community members from different levels. For

the institutional level, school safety plan and hospital safety plans are developed.

Awareness Raising: At this stage, basic training on the issue of DRR is conducted

for volunteers and following the training, the volunteer groups are encouraged to

arrange awareness sessions in their mohallahs to make the other community members

aware about household level preparedness.

Emergency Response Skill Transfer: The urban community groups are prepared as

the first responders for an emergency period and different training programs are

arranged for them such as fire fighting, first aid, search and rescue etc. Community

stakeholders like Fire Service and Civil Defence and Bangladesh Red Crescent

Society are involved in these events as facilitators and to create linkage between them

and the community groups for future coordination. IRW-B also arranged training for

the engineers, architects, masons and bar-binders on earthquake resilient construction.

Stock-piling and Equipment for Effective Emergency Response: To ensure

effective response from these first responders from the community in an emergency,

fire safety equipment, search and rescue kits and first aid kits are given to these

community groups under the project and proper demonstration and mock simulation

drills are arranged to test their skills for a real scenario.

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Advocacy Campaign: Through the

community groups, different

advocacy campaigns are initiated

both at local and national level to

ensure infrastructural safety through

ensuring application of the national

building code and to ensure the

ownership and responsibilities of the

community stakeholders in different

DRR initiatives. These advocacy

campaigns are arranged through

seminar, day observance, rally and other community led initiatives. The community

groups are able to involve the national figures like Professor Md. Jafar Iqbal, the SCC

Mayor Badar Uddin Ahmad Kamran etc. Their presence in events mentioned above

help draw the attention of policy makers fruitfully.

Capacity building of masons, engineer, and architects: Under the 6th

DIPECHO

Action Plan, IRW has provided trainings to the masons, engineers and architects

through. A group of experts from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and

Technology (BUET) and Institute of Architects in Bangladesh (IAB) facilitated the

trainings after preparing the training module for them. These trainings were arranged

to enhance the capacity of these people for safer building construction. They have

been given certificates signed by the SCC Mayor, which indicates that these people

can construct the buildings complying with the building codes.

Structural Assessment through Resource Mobilization: Recently IRW-B

facilitated a structural risk assessment initiative with the support from BUET in some

important buildings of Sylhet so that these samples can be used for advocacy

purposes and it can be the inspiration and point of motivation for the other people and

for the concerned government bodies

The community as a result of this approach can recognize their own resources and

are making good use of them. The volunteer groups in different wards arrange

different Awareness Campaign in their areas. They use their own human resource

and fund for awareness sessions at school classroom, tea-stall, household,

community based rally, popular theater, signature collection, distribution of IEC

materials and emergency contact numbers etc to meet their action plan for

community awareness-raising on different DRR issues.

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12. Conclusion

Islamic Relief Worldwide- Bangladesh has made some strong urban community groups

in Sylhet with the purpose to sensitize and prepare the rest of their community members

for future potential disasters. These community groups are working with IRW-B as well

as with the local authority to reduce their vulnerability. Aiming high to reduce and

manage risk the two stakeholders; community people and IRW-B are working side by

side. Already there have been some significant achievements of the community based

DRR approach in Sylhet which can be used as examples for other cities for ensuring

community participation in disaster risk reduction.

The community based approach for ensuring safer urban settlement indicates the urgency

that the cities and local governments should be ready, reduce the risks and become

resilient to potential disasters. Recently the United Nations International Strategy for

Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) has launched its campaign „Making Cities Resilient‟ for

this purpose. Mayors and their local governments are both key targets and drivers of the

campaign. Local Government officials need to be operationally ready to face disasters on

a day-to-day basis and need better policies and tools to effectively deal with them.

The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and

Communities to Disasters offers solutions for local governments and local actors to

manage and reduce urban risk. Meanwhile, the 2010-2015 World Disaster Reduction

Campaign "Making Cities Resilient" addresses issues of local governance and urban risk

while drawing upon previous ISDR Campaigns on safer schools and hospitals. IRW-B

under its programmatic approach towards urban solution for disaster risk reduction is

contributing to these campaigns and strategies through working directly with the

communities and transferring not only the knowledge and skills, but also building stakes

and long-term ownership of the concept as well.

In doing so, IRW-B is involving communities in disaster risk reduction programs which

is providing a platform for these communities to execute their own risk reduction

measures, and thus create the sense of ownership and increase the possibilities of

sustainability in the future.

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Annexure-01:

1.1 Mohallah Group/Cluster Group

1.1.1 Criteria for Cluster Group Formation

1 member per household.

Proactive community representative

Will have community acceptance

Leadership quality

Different community group (At least 50% female, PWD, Religious leader, local

elite, )

Different age group (Aged, Youth, Children)

At least 1 Aged (above 60 years) person

At least 1 Person with Disability (if any)

Considerable literacy level

Previous volunteering experience will be given preference

Skilled people (masons, craftsman, pharmacists, defence, fire service, doctors)

1.1.2 Roles and Responsibilities

HH preparedness plan development

Awareness session/meeting participation with maintaining proper documentations

Attend awareness raising activities (campaign, seminar, day observation)

Knowledge share within family and neighbours and community level

Prepare, review and implement action plan at HH and community level

Represent to next group

Networking with other Primary group

1.1.3 Committee formation

Total members: 30

1 president*

1 vice president

1 GS*

1 information secretary

1 treasurer

4 executive members

15 general members

*One female member should hold the position of either President or Secretary.

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1.2 Community Volunteers Group (CVG)

1.2.2 Roles and Responsibilities

Actively participate in the awareness sessions

Conduct awareness sessions with Primary groups

Maintain proper documents like resolutions, minutes, back account details,

registers etc.

Attend in capacity development activities (training, workshop)

Represent and maintain liaison and share progress with WDMC

Communicate and establish linkage with Primary group and WDMC

Support formation of SDMC

Actively participation in URA process and develop RRAPs together with WDMC

Develop Ward level contingency planning with together with WDMC

Organize and participate in folk show drama, popular theatre, day observation,

mock drill etc

Prepare, review and implement action plan at community/ cluster level

Generate DRR fund

Coordinate with media group

Form various taskforces

1.2.3 Committee formation

1 president*

1 vice president

1 GS*

1 information secretary

1 treasurer

4 executive members

0-15 general members

*One female member should hold the position of either President or Secretary.

1.3 Ward Disaster Management Committee (WDMC)

The project encompassed the structure of City Corporation Disaster Management

Committee (CCDMC) and replicated it at the ward level by forming Ward Disaster

Management Committee (WDMC). Each WDMC have a member of maximum 32

members. Around nine members from the CVG group represents in the respective

WDMC.

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1.3.1 Roles and Responsibilities

Arrange regular training and workshops on disaster management and disaster risk

reduction for volunteers, SMC, religious leaders and other stakeholders at Ward

level by keeping the City Corporation informed.

Hold hazard, vulnerability, capacity and risk analysis at Ward level.

Contribute forming and managing volunteer team under City Corporation.

Develop Ward disaster preparedness plan for natural and human induced disasters

e.g. earthquake, fire, flood flash flood and water logging etc.

Identify community at risk based on age, sex, ethnic community and minority

class, physical fitness, social status, profession and economic condition.

Review Ward level developmental and other interventions to introduce risk

reduction elements in that.

Develop linkages with utility services for immediate restoration of lifeline

services and manage available fund for the implementation of risk reduction

action plans.

Inform the local people about practical measures for the reduction of risk at

household and community levels.

Determine specific safe centres/shelters/ open place where the people of particular

area will go at the time of disaster.

Ensure that temporary shelters have supply of safe drinking water and provision

of sanitation and forming shelter management committee consisting of

CVG/WDMC members.

Prepare relevant preparedness plans for search and rescue, primary relief

operation, and local arrangement for rehabilitation of severely affected families.

Creating and raising funds for pre and post disaster activities.

Arranging bi-monthly/quarterly coordination meeting with CCDMC.

Preparing monthly update on their planning and activities to CCDMC.

WDMC will develop their own contingency plan at the ward level and revise it

twice a year.

During Disaster

Operate emergency rescue work with the facilities locally available and/or

provide support services to other rescue teams.

Coordinate all relief activities (GO-NGO) at Ward level so that relief materials

are distributed impartially.

Ensure the overall security of women, children and persons with disability during

disaster residing in safe centres/shelters and other places.

Support to protect environmental degradation.

Post Disaster Period (The period following the emergency phase)

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Collect and submit statistics regarding damage and loss due to disaster according

to directives from Disaster Management Bureau.

Allocate and distribute on the basis of actual needs, the materials received from

local source or Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation/ other sources for relief

and rehabilitation work according to the directives of DMB/DRR.

Ensure community people led proper sanitation system with special preference of

women, children, aged people with ensuring safe water.

Take necessary measures so that people can return to their home after the disaster

is over. In such cases, if there is any dispute regarding the legality of the land, it

should not be an obstacle for them to return to their previous place after the

disaster.

Arrange counselling for people suffering from psycho-trauma due to disaster,

with the collaborative support of experts and community elites.

Arrange the health-related personnel to provide appropriate and adequate care to

disaster affected people and if needed, request the District health authority for

assistance.

1.3.2 Committee formation

1 president*

1 vice president

1 GS*

1 information secretary

1 treasurer

4 executive members

0-23 general members

*Ward Councillor is the president and a female member holds the position of either

President or Secretary.

1.4 School Disaster Management Committee (SDMC)

1.4.1 Criteria for SDMC

Each SDMC will have members of 27 members comprising of students, teachers and

SMC members. The structure of the committees and criteria for membership is given

below:

1 president: Head of SMC

1 GS: Principle or Head master

1 joint secretary: Scout teachers or Sports teacher

3 Executive member: (Teacher and SMC members (1 female)

General member: 21 (students) 50% female

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In case of high, student form class 7 or 8 will be given preference as these students will

stay for longer period in the schools than students of class 9 or 10. Also students having

experience of scout, BNCC or any other extracurricular activities will be given priority.

1.4.2 Roles and Responsibilities

Take part in the capacity building activities (DP/DRR training, school safety

training, Search and Rescue, First Aid and Fire Fighting Training) and

disseminate knowledge in peer groups

Form various tasks forces like Search and Rescue Task force, First Aid Task

Force, Fire Fighting Task force etc.

Carry out monthly sharing session at family level

Carry out school safety audit and contingency plan

Organize and participate in simulation exercise

Linkage with other SDMCS through network

Participate in Inter/intra-school Debate/drawing competitions

Organize and participate in Mass school based Awareness campaign

Develop and implement Student led micro project

Display of evacuation routes in each class

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References:

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN009661.pdf

http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/J_0104.HTM

http://www.bdresearch.org/home/attachments/article/613/jp4a5d753b2e7ac.pdf

http://www.bracresearch.org/reports/brac_flood_disaster_exp.pdf

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6143504/Vulnerability-analysis-of-a-community-to-Fire-

Hazard

http://www.adpc.net/audmp/library/safer_cities/5.pdf

http://webmedia.unmc.edu/community/citymatch/PPOR/howto/PPORGeneralDescription

.pdf

http://www.adb.org/poverty/forum/pdf/Yodmani.pdf

http://www.adpc.net/infores/adpc-documents/PovertyPaper.pdf

http://www.unisdr.org/english/campaigns/campaign2010-2015/about/

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=206079

Rahman, M. Mizanur (2012): Understanding Dimensions of Development. Dhaka, A H

Development Publishing House

Bibliography:

http://www.disasterresearch.net/drvc2011/paper/fullpaper_9.pdf