Staff Reporter:
Disaster Management and Relief Adviser Faruk E Azam, Bir Protik, yesterday said relevant organiza-tions must focus on developing advanced forecasting systems on major disaster events to avert disaster-link deaths.
“Investing in advance to build disaster resilience is more effective, sustainable and beneficial to the pub-lic than spending on repairing the damage after the disaster occurs. That is why the Early Warning for all Roadmap is important for the public interest and the socio-economic development of the country,” he said.
He said these while addressing the inauguration of the ‘National Roadmap Promotion Workshop on Ear-ly Warning for All’ at the BTRC Bhaban Auditorium in city’s Agargaon.
Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Mostafizur Rahman presided over the event while Swe-dish Ambassador to Bangladesh Nicolas Weeks, Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regu-latory Commission Major General (Retd) Md. Emdad ul Bari and Secretary General of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Kabir Md. Ashraf Alam, among others, were present.
Faruk E Azam said as Bangladesh is a disaster prone country, the government, private organizations along with all levels of the people must be prepared for minimizing lives caused by both natural and human-induced deaths.
He said the cyclone and tidal wave of 1970 took the lives of about five lakh people in one night. There were no modern forecasts and technical warnings then, he added.
The adviser said, “It is a matter of great regret that even after the disasters of 1970 or 1991, we could not achieve sufficient progress in domestic research and technological innovation. We needed to focus more on research nationally. However, fortunately, satellite-based weather models, Doppler radar, flash-flood models, artificial intelligence-based forecasts, mobile-based warnings are all now in our hands. Currently, disaster-related information is being generated in all areas, including coastal, hilly areas, ur-ban areas, and river erosion-prone areas.”
