What Bangladesh can teach the world about climate disaster preparation

With Bangladesh ranking seventh among countries most affected by climate change, and with rising sea levels, droughts and floods frequently wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods, disaster risk and preparedness is taken extremely seriously.

As soon we heard news that Cyclone Mocha was making landfall, a clear action plan was developed to keep those living in climate-vulnerable communities protected. Overnight, 700,000 people were moved at lightning speed to a network of over 14,000 cyclone shelters across the country or into makeshift facilities including schools and mosques.

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As a country we vowed “never again”, using the memory of the cyclone in 1991 as a sobering reminder of how vulnerable Bangladesh is to climate change. In the years since, cyclones have come and gone but we are now more resilient than ever. We’ve invested in improving early warning systems, an extensive network of 14,000 cyclone shelters across the country, evacuation plans like we saw last weekend, and the restoration of our vital mangroves which protect coastal communities at risk of rising sea levels. And critical to our response to disaster has been the role of over 80,000 volunteers across the country.

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Despite concerning climate projections, this is encouraging - that countries like Bangladesh can prepare effectively for crisis. But it is also a call to redouble our efforts and for the international community to pay climate reparations to countries like Bangladesh that have barely left a mark on global emissions.

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In its response to climate change, Bangladesh cannot be seen purely as a victim of these systems of exploitation but as an example to countries across the world on the frontline of the climate disaster.