A low-interest loan agreement was signed by the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh to provide the country with an additional $140 million to improve the existing disaster prevention infrastructure in vulnerable areas and support a 15-year government programme for disaster risk reduction, reports the Financial Express.
According to Johannes Zutt, Director of the World Bank in Dhaka office, additional damages by the Cyclone Aila in 2009 required further financing in order to strengthen the resilience of coastal people, through the rehabilitation of 10 polders of the costal embankment network with a 'build-back-better' design, construction and rehabilitation of multi-purpose cyclone shelters, projects for the long-term disaster risk reduction and support to studies for improved disaster resilience.