EVERY monsoon, the serene beauty of southeastern Bangladesh鈥檚 hills turns into a landscape of peril. For communities in districts such as Bandarban and Rangamati, relentless rainfall is not merely a seasonal event; it is a precursor to a silent, swift killer: landslides. Unlike riverine floods, which offer visible cues, landslides are often unpredictable and instantaneous, a sudden collapse of saturated earth and rock that can engulf homes and lives within seconds. While the nation has made significant strides in disaster preparedness, a crucial barrier remains, a language barrier that often stands between a life-saving warning and those who need it most.
Bangladesh鈥檚 history is marked by a tragic series of landslides, particularly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. A devastating event in 2007 claimed over 120 lives in Chattogram city and surrounding areas, but this was merely a precursor. Subsequent years, including 2017 and 2018, saw numerous fatal incidents, with the 2017 event alone causing over 150 deaths, the majority of which occurred in the hilly districts of Rangamati, Bandarban and Chittagong. These incidents underscore the critical need for an effective, trusted and universally accessible early warning system.
The government鈥檚 machinery, led by the Bangladesh Meteorology Department and the Department of Disaster Management, is robust in its technical capacity. With a network of 372 automatic weather stations, the meteorology department听 generates detailed weather bulletins forecasting rainfall, wind speed and potential risk areas up to three days in advance. The Department of Disaster Management then uses a multi-channel approach 鈥� including email, mobile phone calls, Interactive Voice Response, television and community radio and media scrolls 鈥� to disseminate these vital messages. However, in the country鈥檚 most remote and last-mile communities, particularly where network coverage is non-existent, traditional 鈥榤iking鈥� remains the only viable channel.
This is where the communication barrier becomes tragically apparent. While the weather bulletins are meticulously crafted in Bangla, the national language, they are largely incomprehensible to the ethnic communities residing in high-risk zones. In the districts of Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari, there are almost 11 ethnic communities, each with a different dialect. The Marma, Chakma, and other indigenous groups often do not understand the nuances of formal Bangla, understanding only their native languages, many of which lack a written script. For them, a broadcast about 鈥榩otential landslide risk鈥� or 鈥榟eavy rainfall warning鈥� in a foreign language is merely noise, not a call to action. This disconnect erodes trust and diminishes the perceived value of the early warning system.
Fortunately, a quiet but revolutionary solution has emerged from within these communities themselves. Through an initiative pioneered by the Union Disaster Management Committees, known as the 鈥楲earning Lab,鈥� a new bottom-up approach is bridging this critical gap. Going beyond seasonal meetings, the Learning Lab is a continuous hub where community members collaborate to learn disaster management and prepare for future risks. Volunteers from ethnic communities are empowered to act as a crucial interpretive link. They receive official Bangla bulletins, analyse their contents and interpret vital information into native languages, such as Marma, Chakma, and Tanchygya. Using traditional miking systems, religious centres, social media and door-to-door outreach, they disseminate these life-saving messages before disaster strikes.
This simple yet profound initiative does more than just overcome a language barrier; it builds a foundation of trust. By receiving warnings from a familiar voice in their own language, community members are more likely to take the messages seriously and undertake anticipatory actions. These actions, critical for saving lives and livelihoods, include moving livestock, securing valuable belongings and preparing emergency supplies such as dry food and drinking water, often relocating to designated safe shelters well before the landslide materialises. The success of this model has also prompted the Bangladesh Meteorological Department and Department of Disaster Management to increase their focus on landslide warnings, recognising them as a priority on par with cyclones and riverine floods.
The impact of this initiative extends beyond immediate disaster mitigation. It shrinks the vast psychological and physical distance between the national capital and the remote, hilly areas. For ethnic communities, it is a tangible sign that the government鈥檚 promise of 鈥楨arly Warning for All by 2027,鈥� a key UN initiative, is not merely a slogan but a genuine commitment to their safety and well-being. By empowering local leaders and respecting linguistic diversity, Bangladesh is creating a more resilient, inclusive and effective disaster management system, one community at a time. The last mile of warning is not a technological challenge; it is a human one and this grassroots solution demonstrates that empathy and local knowledge can be the most powerful tools in saving lives.
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Mohammad Abu Toyab is a development professional.
