Improvement of responses and recovery approaches for cyclone hazards in coastal Bangladesh

After the devastating cyclone of 1991, the concept of acting only after the occurrence of disaster has been replaced by the concept of total disaster management involving prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and development. Regarding cyclone, Bangladesh has made successful progress because of modernizing early warning systems, developing cyclone shelters and evacuation plans, constructing coastal embankments, maintaining and improving coastal forest cover and raising awareness at the community level through the collaboration of various levels. Moreover, it has been noticed that continued technological advances will increase preparedness and help mitigate the effect of cyclones in Bangladesh. For example, the Storm Warning Center (SWC) of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) issues the early warning signals instantly through an extensive telecommunication network and sends warnings directly to the National Coordination Committee (NCC) with representatives from Cyclone Preparedness Program to which it is disseminated at-risk community resulting in fewer than expected deaths of Cyclone Sidr in 2007.