Earthquake risk reduction and vulnerabilities

Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, constantly battling with multiple threats- when there was lightning, fire, nor ‘wester, landslide, flash flood, waterlogging, building collapse, boat capsize, bridge collapse, riverbank erosion and flood. Between 1980 and 2008, Bangladesh experienced 219 natural disasters. The geographical location, land characteristics, multiplicity of rivers, coastal morphology and the monsoon climate render Bangladesh highly vulnerable to natural disasters. Bangladesh suffers from floods, cyclones, storm surges, riverbank erosion, earthquakes, droughts, salinity intrusion, fires and tsunamis. Cyclones in 1970, 1991, 2007, 2009 and 2019 killed 364,000, 136,000, 3,363, 190 and 14 people respectively. However, Bangladesh is also known as one of the most resilient countries. Despite the regular and devastating events, the country manages to attain significant progress in almost all sectors. Now the challenge is mainstreaming the disaster risk reduction into development interventions.
We talk about earthquakes when a tremor jolts Bangladesh. We panic, we jump out of high buildings, we get injured, and we lose our family members and neighbors, we lose our lives. Media outlets rush to the scene, try to get a sound bite from those who are traumatized. A few talk shows cover the incident and we hear from experts, including senior government officials and practitioners about what to do, what the gaps are, what people should do, and what the government and non-government bodies should do. We feel that things have changed, become hopeful about having a better system, earthquake-resilient infrastructure and services.
But in reality, we tend to forget about the threat within a few weeks or months after the initial shock. We have become habituated with this post-earthquake dementia. This is not to say that nothing has been done so far in Bangladesh regarding earthquake preparedness. A number of actions have been taken to enhance earthquake preparedness in Bangladesh. It ranges from equipping Fire Service and Civil Defense and Armed Forces Division; creating a large group of volunteers in major cities; conducting risk-mapping, zoning, and contingency planning of government departments; carrying out research to understand the magnitude of risks, and so on. However, there are many things that should be done immediately to build earthquake resilience. Stanford University’s Earthquake Disaster Risk Index 2010 ranks Dhaka among the 20 cities most vulnerable to earthquakes. Earthquakes will not only kill or injure people but also damage our export capacity and displace millions.
Earthquake preparedness should be everybody’s business. All stakeholders have a role to build an earthquake-resilient Bangladesh, not only the concerned authorities. Action needs to be taken at the individual, family and community levels to build a culture of earthquake resilience. Private sector, mass media, and social media have a critical role in enhancing awareness on earthquake preparedness. Earthquakes are not only a national threat but also a regional threat. We should not only be satisfied by taking all necessary steps for earthquake preparedness in the country; we should also strengthen regional cooperation to tackle earthquake threats. Locating the epicenter and monitoring each shock may improve our understanding. However, it is important to focus on training and public awareness; integration of seismic resistance in infrastructures; development of safety systems in all public buildings; and introduction of local actor-based earthquake management.
We should build a strong volunteer group and first responders in the least vulnerable areas surrounding risk cities. When the city is on the verge of collapse, those trained volunteers and first responders will be able to act fast and save lives in the devastated areas, and Capacity of our water-police and ability of fire service department to move through the waterways around all major cities and other earthquake vulnerable urban areas so that they can respond quickly during any big earthquake when the major roads are damaged or blocked by debris. We need to have a plan for transport management. During a major earthquake, millions of people will try to leave the cities and urban centres and go to relatively safer locations, mostly to their semi-urban and rural homes. During the Nepal earthquake, the transport workers and owners’ association played a key role to assist more than 700,000 people to leave Kathmandu city. We need to be prepared for such mass evacuation with proper planning and support system. We have to raise awareness and management capacity of the transport workers and owners.
The SDGs have also given specific focus on disasters and reducing the risks. Disaster risk reduction efforts would become successful when effective communication is established among multidimensional actors including inter-governmental agencies, researchers, academics, development partners, national and local level disaster managers, humanitarian agencies, private sectors and communities who are at risk. Attention must be given to the multifaceted and multilayered governance, global accountability, and South Asian regional risk reduction issues, often shaped by political crises, to reduce the challenges of disaster risk reduction efforts.
Natural disasters threaten our normal pattern of life, our progress and destroy our socio-economic development, representing a considerable challenge for the global community. These consequences of disasters have convinced the national government, NGOs and international community, that disaster prevention and mitigation are the essential components of any range of sustainable development projects and politics. Finally, to address the need for capacity building, training and resource mobilization should be strengthened. Unless the natural disaster is considered as an important national issues by both local and intentional level in a co-ordinated way, the hope for mitigation and prevention would remain unstable and fragile.

(The writer is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP).