A daylong workshop in Chattogram on Monday underscored the urgent need to make the Disaster Management Fund more accessible to local authorities for enabling them to take anticipatory actions before looming landslides, flash floods and other recurrent hazards.
The event, titled 鈥楨xploring pathways to institutionalise the Disaster Management Fund for anticipatory action鈥� was organised at a hotel jointly by development organisation Young Power in Social Action, Save the Children, and intergovernmental institution Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia.
Officials and experts at the programme held with support from European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations said that the government must move beyond reactive relief and adopt a forecast-based funding mechanism to reduce losses during disasters.
Additional secretary of the disaster management and relief ministry KM Abdul Wadud in his chief guest鈥檚 speech said that Chattogram should 鈥榤ark the beginning of a new era鈥� in its use of the Disaster Management Fund.
Although the fund was established in 2012 and its regulations finalised in 2021, its proactive use remains limited, he also remarked.
Wadud, highlighting that Bangladesh now had nearly 80 lakh volunteers engaged in disaster preparedness and post-disaster activities, said that a National Volunteer Policy was under preparation to create a digital deployment platform for emergency response.
The workshop was chaired by Chattogram additional deputy commissioner (education and ICT) Pathan Md Saiduzzaman with deputy secretaries Asim Chandra Banik and Sanzida Yasmin delivered keynote presentations, outlining the Disaster Management Fund鈥檚 potential in supporting early actions.
Speakers at the programme also recommended establishing a streamlined policy framework that would link early warnings with automatic fund activation.
ADC Saiduzzaman said that the process of operationalising the fund had already begun and encouraged upazilas to seek allocations without delay, noting that proposals would be forwarded to the ministry for approval.
He also commented that effective use of the fund at the local level could significantly improve the country鈥檚 preparedness and response capacity.
Representatives from local administration, including upazila nirbahi officers, assistant commissioners for land, Chattogram Metropolitan Police, District Relief and Rehabilitation Office, Fire Service officials and others joined the discussions.