Making development stronger than disaster in Bangladesh

By Nick Beresford, Khurshid Alam, and Cathrine Tranberg Haarsaker

As an ascending middle income country, Bangladesh is seeing heavy investment – from government, companies, and private citizens sending remittances from abroad. Coupled with social development work, the result is that an unprecedented number of people are being lifted out of poverty, and are entering education, employment, and better lives every day. Supported by a well-functioning system for disaster warning and preparedness, the number of lives lost to disasters has never been so low.

With public and private investments facilitating growth and rapid improvement in the living standards of families across the nation, there is huge scope for risk reduction – but also risk accumulation. Only by managing disaster and climatic risks, can we make progress sustainable at household, community and national level. Otherwise, our growth and human development remains at risk from disaster shocks.