The United Nations has praised the government for its preparedness on tropical storm Mahasen that hit Bangladesh on Thursday. While tropical Storm Mahasen reached the coastline of Bangladesh on Thursday weaker than anticipated, the preparedness work undertaken by the government and humanitarian partners saved countless lives, said a UN press statement on Sunday. “The government demonstrated its commitment to disaster risk reduction and have taken the necessary preparedness steps to prevent a catastrophe” said Pascal Villeneuve, the acting UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is regarded as a global leader in disaster risk reduction since adopting a series of preparedness measures following the ‘Bhola Cyclone’ in 1970 that killed more than 400,000 people. In 2009, when Cyclone ‘Aila’ struck, many volunteers helped move thousands of people out of the disaster area, ultimately saving lives. The death toll from that tragedy was less than 200.
An estimated one million people were evacuated from 13 coastal districts in the 24-hour period prior to the storm hitting on Thursday. The Bangladesh Government, through its highly regarded Cyclone Preparedness Programme, activated a number of preparedness measures including mobilizing thousands of community volunteers; sending alerts and information to at-risk communities and advancing cash payments as well as collaborating with international humanitarian partners to ensure a coordinated response was on standby.
Pascal Villeneuve further mentioned his hope that the United Nations has considerable experience in disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response and will continue to work closely with the Government of Bangladesh and humanitarian partners to ensure lessons learned are incorporated into future planning.
-With The Independent input
