Identifying priority areas and testing coordination mechanism will help us to be better prepared to reduce the impact of earthquake, an expert on emergency management said on Tuesday.
“Identifying areas of improvement and testing coordination mechanisms will help us to be better prepared if a powerful earthquake hits,” said World Food Programme (WFP) Bangladesh Representative Christa R”der prior to launching a simulation exercise.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.
The WFP in association with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief will conduct a three-day disaster simulation in Sylhet to help improve logistical readiness in order to reduce the impact of a future urban disaster.
It is part of a series of exercises organised by WFP to support the government preparations for a large-scale emergency. The simulation exercises will bring together key emergency-response agencies, including government officials, NGOs and UN agencies.
On this occasion, a WFP statement noted that Bangladesh in recent years made significant progress in emergency preparedness, but the country still needs to address some important areas for better managing the aftermath of natural disaster like any big tremor.
Referring that Bangladesh sits on a three-way junction of major tectonic plates, and dangerous pressure is building along a fault line, the WFP said an earthquake would bring enormous destruction when search-and-rescue efforts would also be extremely complicated.
Over the coming three days in the city of Sylhet, participants will work in teams to develop responses to an evolving emergency scenario. At the end, each team’s operations plan will be evaluated by a panel of government officials who are in charge of coordinating the country’s emergency responses.
