Support to the Bangladesh Cyclone Preparedness Programme

In Bangladesh, there's a strong history of disaster preparedness. Given how prone Bangladesh is to severe weather, people are more likely to take warnings seriously. There are sophisticated classifications of threats and systems in place to communicate these warnings. The problem is, there are multiple systems, all of which are complicated and can create confusion. One is meteorological and another is from the Coast Guard. For example, a category 8, 9, and 10 cyclone might all have the same strength, but be passing in different directions which imply different risk levels.

The language used in warnings wasn't understood by ordinary people. For example: "Signals for inland river ports. (Distant) Cautionary Signal No. I. The area is threatened by squally winds (wind speed of 60 kms/hour) of transient nature. This signal is also hoisted during nor'westers."

The Bangladesh Cyclone Preparedness Programme came up with a 3 flag system: 1 = Something might happen; 2 = It's getting serious. Prepare to move if required; 3 = Go to the shelter now.

Targeting: Technical experts working on the Bangladesh Cyclone Preparedness Programme

• Advisory support: BBC Media Action helped to support that approach and build understanding of the new system amongst at-risk audiences.

Targeting: General populations at risk of severe weather

• Media: TV reality programme - At the time we were running the 'Amrai Pari' TV reality show (described above) encouraging people to take action with their communities to reduce risk. On one episode, we featured a community running an emergency drill together and as part of that, we explained the 3 flag system.

Targeting: Media and communication professionals.

• Capacity strengthening: We also ran capacity strengthening exercises including cyclone simulations with media and communication professionals.

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