By Jonathan Gomes, World Vision Bangladesh communications

Delwara Begum, now 30, was only in seventh grade when one of the worst storms ever to hit Bangladesh swept through her village in 1991. She remembers it well.

“The weather was very hot when I returned from my school. Warning signals were being announced with loud speakers. The wind was blowing at a great speed,” she recalls.

“At night when we heard that the flood was coming, we climbed the inner roof. When the floodwater came inside the room, my brother cut open the outer corrugated iron sheet ceiling, we went up and stayed on top of the roof till dawn,” she adds.

Though her immediate family was safe, she lost nine members of her extended family, including children and her elderly great aunt. They lived in a tent on their ruined land, without any chance for livelihood.

“We lost our house and harvest of rice paddy,” Delwara remembers.

Her town of Chowdhuripara of South Patenga, a sea beach located 14 kilometres south of Chittagong, is still prone to storm damage and disasters. Nowadays Delwara is a volunteer community disaster leader, a role she’s taken seriously since she received disaster management and awareness training from World Vision in 2000.

World Vision partners with the local disaster authority, Ansar Village Defence Party (VDP) to prepare volunteers with orientation whenever there is any prediction of disaster. They regularly hold awareness programmes and rallies to educate the common people.

Community support for disaster preparation

Delwara, who lives with her brothers and her widowed mother, used to work as a teacher in a school run by a local NGO. She has been a member and group leader of the VDP since 2004.

She received a sewing machine from Ansar VDP as a prize for her service in 2006, and took training in sewing from World Vision. She uses the sewing machine to make clothes for her friends and relatives but does not charge for it. Her efforts are focussed on her community work.

Delwara says that when Cyclone Sidr blew over the southern part of the country in November 2007, there was still not enough timely warning.

“I ran to the shelter with my family immediately after we heard the sudden great danger warning signal,” Delwara says. “I thought that my mother had also been taken to the shelter along with the others. But after a while I found she was not there in the shelter. I had to run back to our home, where I found Mother still inside the house, and brought her safely to the shelter.”

The 1991 cyclone killed at least 138,000 people. In comparison, the impact of Cyclone Sidr, though it hit densely populated areas, caused around 3,400 deaths. Delwara thinks that when the next storm hits it may be possible to reduce the impact even further.

“People became more aware about natural disasters after 1991. But they thought it would never happen again. Since Cyclone Sidr hit in 2007, they are more aware. In preparation for cyclone Nargis in May 2008, there was a major evacuation in Patenga,” says Delwara.

In the past it might have been unusual for a woman to lead community activities as Delwara has been doing. She admits that at first her own brothers questioned her volunteer activities. “But once they came to know about the changing working environment in Bangladesh, they also changed their minds,” she says confidently.

“We hear often about adverse attitudes for women working outside their homes, but I did not face such troubles. Here people do not say bad things or ridicule women who work,” she says.

A deadly cycle of disasters

Bangladesh is very vulnerable to natural disasters. Every year calamities claim lives and property somewhere in the country. They may come in the form of flood, cyclone and storm surge, flash flood, drought, tornado, riverbank erosion, earthquake or landslide. Each time they adversely affect the whole environment, including people, their shelters and the resources they need for their livelihoods.

“Our area is very vulnerable to cyclonic disaster,” says Andrew Ritchil, World Vision’s development programme manager in Patenga. “So we educate people about disaster preparedness and risks reduction.”

“The people are now very much aware of taking preventive measures for the safety of their lives and livelihoods. They respond to any warning and signal hosted by the metrological centre without any delay.”

World Vision also contributes to keeping cyclone shelters ready to protect people when a storm hits.” There are 17 cyclone shelters in the area where almost 5000 people can take shelter during any cyclone, explains Ritchil. “In comparison to the situation of the 1991 cyclone, the present landscape of the area is different. Now there are many multi-story buildings where people can take shelter too.”

World Vision has established a strong network with the local government’s Disaster Management Committee. As well as conducting Village Preparedness Sessions, trained volunteers are ready to provide services for disaster preparation, especially in the impending period when mobilising people for evacuation and shelter is vitally important.

Evacuation taken seriously

Mohammad Nurul Islam, 25, a sponsorship facilitator for Patenga Area Development Program, is too young to clearly remember the 1991 cyclone, but was part of the evacuation team alongside Delwara and over 170 other volunteers when Cyclone Sidr hit.

“That night we were gathered for evacuation work and sent to our community at 11:30 at night,” he remembers.

“We were so close to the disaster during this emergency time that other organisations and government offices were contacting us to find out what the conditions were.”

Islam says that World Vision’s role in disaster preparation is now well known.

“The community people take messages from us very seriously. Whenever there is any warning signal announced on the television or radio, the villagers will call us to find out what they should do about the situation.”