Ministers and concerned senior officials on Tuesday proposed construction of more cyclone shelters for the southern coastlines, reinforced embankments and improved ICT communication systems as they joined a post-Fani review meeting at the PMO.
“It is essential to build more ‘Mujib Killas’ in the country to protect livestock alongside saving the people during natural calamities,” Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque told the meeting. He said the structures of the existing primary schools, high schools and mosques should be reinforced further so that they could be used as safe cyclone centres.
State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahaman said his ministry initiated measures to repair 550 ‘Mujib Killas’ to protect the livestock during disasters.
He said his ministry estimated that 2,500 more cyclone shelters were needed in the coastlines while their existing number was over 4,000, officials concerned said this could require around Taka 10 crore. Rahman proposed introduction of a ‘disaster insurance’ to meet the immediate needs of the affected people soon after disasters like cyclones. Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar said the proposed Bangabandhu Satellite-2 could be launched as a weather satellite to get updated information about the weather. He said Bangladesh can develop alternative communication system at district and upazila-levels using Bangabandhu Satellite during any disaster when the traditional communication system may not work. The Minister said Bangabandhu Satellite can also be used in providing healthcare services to disaster affected people.
Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Nojibur Rahman moderated the meeting which recommended allocation of adequate fund in the quickest possible time to set up new cyclone shelters, repairing and strengthening the existing cyclone centres and embankments.
The meeting proposed that project implementation and monitoring committees should be formed with partnership of local people particularly to oversee the proper expenditure of funds, bypassing the existing time consuming tender procedure as the monsoon was knocking at the door. State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque said some points of the total 5,665-kilometer dams in the coastal areas were affected by cyclonic storm Fani.
The damaged dams needed to be repaired quickly by raising their heights and expanding their lengths which would cost an estimated amount of Taka 263 crore.
