Disaster Preparedness & Response
Bangladesh
Example of an
evacuation
route built by
community
participation in
preparedness
for Monsoon
season in
Bangladesh
Community Participation in Risk Reduction (HEED)
Pirgonj is a sub-district of Rangpur, located in the north of Bangladesh. Most of its people are
dependent on agriculture to maintain their livelihood. Flood, drought and cold wave are
common phenomena in this area. HEED’s DRR project started in July 2006 and identified the
most vulnerable parts of this sub-district. These included the village of Sherpur.
The DRR Project set out to reduce vulnerability to hazards and invited the village people to
participate in a training course. After the training, some volunteers organized a Ward Disaster
Management Committee (WDMC) and developed action plans for reducing their vulnerabilities.
(A Ward is a local Govt unit, comprising several villages; 5-10 wards make up a Union.)
During the training, the community learnt of a regulation of the Forestry Department of the
Bangladesh Government, that if any group took the initiative to plant trees and took care of the
trees, then they can obtain 80% sale value from the wood. Thus they decided to plant 5000 trees
on the village roads and made an agreement with the Union Council as per the Govt regulations.
The WDMC took responsibility to take care of the trees; holes were dug by volunteers and
WDMC funds used for fencing.
However, fencing proved inadequate and after a while, more than 1500 young trees were
damaged by cattle. An emergency meeting of the WDMC was convened and decided to use their
fund to replace the trees and appointed two caretakers, to guard and protect the trees for one
year. Although this would cost Tk.3,000/- per month per caretaker, the WDMC calculated that
this would be a worthwhile investment. Finally, they chose another 2 km of road and planted a
further 6000 trees with their own WDMC funds.