Bangladesh Sanglap, Cyclone Sidr special

Aims

Intended Outcomes

Media: TV episode on regular national discussion programme

Questions from the audience include:

• "Though the cautionary signal for the cyclone was announced, why didn't the government take any initiative to evacuate the people from the cyclone hit areas?"
• "The cyclone shelter of my neighbouring village was locked when the people wanted to use it at the time of disaster. The people did not have the key, so they could not use it when they needed it very much. Shouldn't the shelter have been kept opened at the time of disaster when it was badly needed? "
• "Several times in the past the weather forecast made by the weather department of the government was proved wrong; so, this time people did not believe the weather forecast and thus did not go to the cyclone shelters. "
• "Is there any plan to modernize and develop the weather department? "
• "Is it possible to formulate a permanent system to make shelter for the wealth and livestock besides the shelter for the people? How can we formulate this system?"

Responses from authorities pointed out the importance of people also assuming responsibility for responding to warning systems when they were alerted and not remaining at home to protect assets.

During this episode, there was an exchange between audience members, the moderator and a government official that touched on the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders around issuing early warnings and taking early action. Ideally, these conversations would happen well before a severe event occurred and allow time for conversations to unfold and roles and responsibilities to be explored, agreed, and acted upon before severe events occur.

Villager: My name is Rehana... I lost my three children along with my husband... I did not hear the announcement of the cautionary signal. The signal was announced through loud speakers on the previous day, but we did not perceive that this terrible disaster would happen. So, we stayed inside our house. We came out of the house when it was broken down. We took shelter in the house of my grandfather-in-law. We had to stand on the cot. The water rushed into our houses very quickly.

Moderator: Didn't you hear earlier that a storm was likely to happen?

Villager: We did but we did not believe it. My husband was a shopkeeper. He could not go to the market for two days; that is why he could not hear about the signal very clearly. The cautionary signal was announced through loud speakers on Wednesday and the cyclone hit on Thursday night.

Moderator: Why didn't you go to the cyclone shelter after hearing the cautionary signal?

Villager: The cyclone shelter is far away from my home.

Moderator: How far it is? How much time does it take to go there on foot?

Villager: It takes half an hour.

Moderator: So, it is not very difficult to go there. Saving life is much more important than walking for half an hour.

Villager: But the roads were covered with fallen trees. The tidal wave also flooded the area very quickly. So, we could not get enough time to go to the cyclone shelters. If the water came slowly, no life would be lost.

Moderator: Nobody told you to go to the cyclone shelters?

Villager: No, nobody came to tell us anything.

Moderator: [After talking with others from the village] So, none of you from the Rainda village went to the cyclone shelter. Talukdar Abdul Khaleque (Awami League leader and a former minister for Relief and Disaster Management affairs), Rainda village of Sharonkhola was severely damaged by the cyclone. But none of them went to the cyclone shelters (we have talked to three persons of the village). What is the problem?

Talukdar Abdul Khaleque: In the light of my experience I want to say that the people of the coastal area do not want to leave their house even after hearing the weather forecast. They want to stay at their home to the last moment because they think that if they take shelter in the cyclone shelter leaving their homes, their wealth may be lost. They start to go to the shelters at the eleventh hour when the storm starts to wreak havoc on them. They also fall in accident at that time.

Watch

and

Listen

• BBC Bangladesh Sanglap, Episode 15, Mongla, 24 Nov 2007
• Transcript available upon request.