Dilapidated schools in coastal areas no more disasters safe-house

A REPORT carried by The New Nation on Saturday said 95 percent schools and other educational establishments in the coastal areas are too vulnerable and can collapse in the event of stormy weather during monsoon. People usually take shelter in schools, colleges and madrashas in the extended coastal areas when the sea becomes turbulent and strong cyclones hit the land, submerging vast coastal belt. Due to the depression in the Bay of Bengal and tropical storms from April to June, the coastal areas become vulnerable to damage almost on annual basis. We don’t have enough cyclone shelter centers and people take shelter in stormy days at educational institutions, but since many of them are dilapidated sheltering people in collapsible buildings remains at bigger risk.

We must say that more cyclone shelters need to be built or repaired so that educational establishment can’t be looked at as providing the bigger part of shelter to cyclone-affected people. Moreover cyclone shelter needs to be built at a higher level so that water can’t hit people at the peak of the storm.

The horrible scenario of coastal areas appeared in a study jointly conducted by UNESCO and BANBEIS involving 1800 educational institutions in 12 coastal districts. The study explored that most of the educational institutions in the coastal areas are totally unable to squally weather and strong winds. The funnel-like coastal configuration, the low flat coastal terrain, and a high population density have produced some of the highest mortality figures in the past.

When squally weather and tidal water by the influence of depression at the bay and cyclones wash away the homesteads and farm lands and deluge the coastal areas, the disaster management cohorts of the localities ask people to take shelter at nearby schools or educational institutions but when the schools are in deplorable condition, the affected people have no way to escape the storm. The schools are not only hubs of dispersing knowledge and enlightening the areas, but also provide protection to the vulnerable people of the coastal areas in the face of immense danger. Besides, to attain the sustainable development goals and the national commitment of primary school enrollment, the educational institutions should be reconstructed or repaired to serve the educational purposes, not to serve as cyclone shelters.

It is indeed challenging to reconstruct or repair the vulnerable schools by the efforts of the government alone, participation of non-government organizations and corporate business houses should also come forward to bear the load. We must say that the government should shift its focus from ornamenting the major cities to give more attention to rebuild and repair schools and colleges in the coastal belt.