Bangladesh prepares for disasters

http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080603/tap-as-gen-bangladesh-preparing-for-disa-d3b07b8.html

Bangladesh prepares for future storms in wake of cyclone in Myanmar

By JULHAS ALAM,Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, June 4

PATUAKHALI, Bangladesh - Children in this small coastal town in southern Bangladesh know the storms will come again.

The people of Patuakhali are used to getting battered by tropical cyclones, and though last month's devastating Cyclone Nargis changed course at the last minute and missed them, authorities are not taking any chances that they will be so lucky in the future.

In the wake of that storm, which left at least 134,000 people dead or missing and more than 2 million homeless in Myanmar, Bangladesh is expanding a disaster preparedness program that has already won international praise and been credited with saving an untold number of lives.

At schools across the flood-prone south, thousands of students are practicing packing emergency kits, listening for warning sirens, and running for higher ground. Plans are under way to expand a network of 2,500 temporary shelters and volunteers are rehearsing their warning calls over megaphones and speakers.

The preparations have worked in the past. Cyclone Sidr killed 3,400 people last year and left millions homeless, a toll that aid officials said would have been far worse if not for emergency warnings.

Preparedness programs are relatively simple. All that is needed are effective warning calls, emergency shelters and access to food and clean water. In Bangladesh's case, the warnings are often sounded by megaphones attached to bicycle handlebars, while shelter can be simply concrete boxes on high ground.

Had Myanmar had such a program in place, scores of lives could have been saved, experts say.

ActionAid Bangladesh, a relief group working on disaster programs, is focusing on preparing children in the classroom.

"When a kid goes to school, he earns a voice in the family," said Farah Kabir, the group's director. "We want the kids to teach others what they learn at schools."

One of the students, Jayonto Roy, 12, said his family stayed in their home during last year's cyclone, even as their tin roof blew away in the storm.

"It was a nightmare," he said. "Next time I will definitely take my family to shelters and tell others to move to safety. I will make my parents understand why we need to move to safe places."

On a recent afternoon at a school in Patuakhali, children carried out an elaborate storm drill, learning skills such as persuading the elderly to head for shelter.

"It is exciting," said Mehedi Hasan, 11. "Now I know how I can survive during a storm and help others."