About the Ministry
of Food and Disaster Management
Bangladesh being an alluvial deltaic plain is divided into
three zones, namely hills, terraces and flood plain. The country
has an approximate area of 147,570 sq.km bounded between 20°34’ to
26°38’N latitude and 88°01’ to 92°41’E longitude and has 4,685 km.
long unique geographical location forming a lower part of the
basins of three mighty rivers of Padma, the Brahmaputra and the
Meghna. Bangladesh with its fragile state of economy depends
predominantly on agriculture that has strong linkage with seasonal
weather systems. Due to the geographical location, the country
frequently suffers from devastating natural hazards of which,
floods, cyclones with accompanying storm surges, tornadoes,
river-bank erosion, drought and earthquakes are the most
disastrous to mention. Bangladesh being in close proximity with
the Himalayas, the country has a long history of seismic tremors.
Four great earthquakes of magnitude exceeding 8 during 1897, 1905,
1934, 1950 and another 10 earthquakes exceeding magnitude belt
during the last 100 years. The colossal losses of lives and
properties caused by natural disasters with repeated frequency in
short intervals make Bangladesh as one of the most disaster prone
countries in the world.
Resulting loss of human and animal lives,
assets and infrastructures, these adverse natural phenomena
greatly hinder the development of the country. The traditional
disaster management model focusing on disaster relief and recovery
has done little to redress these rising levels of risk. Following
1988 devastating floods and the cyclone of 1991, Bangladesh
government has adopted a holistic approach embracing the processes
of hazard identification and mitigation, community preparedness
and integrated response efforts. Relief and recovery activities
are now planned within an all-risk management framework seeking
enhanced capacities of at-risk communities and thereby lowering
their vulnerability to specific hazards. In line with the paradigm
shift from relief and response to comprehensive disaster
management, the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation before has
been changed to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and
in 2003, it was again renamed as the Ministry of Food and Disaster
Management (MoFDM). A series of inter-related institutions were
developed to ensure that planning and coordination of disaster
episodes were performed in accordance with the Standing Order on
Disasters (SoD). Specific codes are developed to address cyclones,
floods, drought and famine and the work has started to develop
codes for earthquakes and to address the effects of Tsunami. These
codes are brought to the forefront when articulated at
institutional levels from the Union Disaster Management Committee
(lowest community level) to the apex institution level of the
National Disaster Management Council headed by the Prime Minister.
The development of Union, Pourashava, Upazila, District, City
Corporation and National Disaster Management strategies are all
broad-based and comprehensive.
As part of the paradigm shift earlier, the
Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) was created as a professional
unit at national level back in 1992 under the then Ministry of
Disaster Management and Relief. DMB was assigned to perform
specialist support functions working in close collaboration with
District and Thana/Upazila leve; authorities and the concerned
line ministries under the overall authority of high level
Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMDMCC). The DMB also has the
responsibility to create public awareness on the severity and
risks associated with natural and human-induced hazards and to
formulate programs and projects that will better prepare at-risk
communities and public officials to mitigate their consequences.
As a technical arm to the Ministry of Food and Disaster
management, DMB overview and coordinate all activities related to
disaster management from national to the grass-root level. It is
also entrusted to maintain an effective liaison with government
agencies, donors and NGOs to ensure maximum cooperation and
coordination in all aspects of disaster management.
As a continuation of the paradigm shift
process, the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP)
has been designed as a long-term programme of the Ministry of Food
and Disaster management with multi-agency involvement. Funded
jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the
Department for International Development (DFID), the programme was
launched in November, 2003. Activities of CDMP have been designed
to be implemented in two phases. The first phase of CDMP is a
five-year programme comprising of 5 broad components being
implemented by different Sub Implementing Agencies (SIAs). The
first phase will lay the foundation of the proposed shift as well
as undertake design, formulate and mobilize resource of the
components under phase – II.
