Urban risk reduction initiatives in Bangladesh include school safety programs, mass casualty management training, and earthquake/fire preparedness in garment factories. Steps involve awareness raising, safer construction, planning, and capacity building. Challenges include limited hospital capacity and lack of evacuation plans in factories. Moving forward, priorities are integrating disaster risk reduction into curricula, strengthening volunteer programs, and encouraging policy reforms and private sector investment in workplace safety.

1. DIPECO Bangladesh
Urban Risk Reduction in
Challenging Environment
Shakeb Nabi (ActionAid), Arvind Kumar (ADPC)
and Manish Kumar Agrawal (Oxfam)

3. Approaches for Urban Risk Assessment
Approaches for Urban Risk Assessment
CBDRR
Sectoral Approach
Target Orient Approach
Institutional Approach

4. Steps of Urban Risk Assessment

5. URR Initiatives
• School Safety Program
• Mass Casualty Management
• Garment factory Workers safety
• Capacity Building of Urban Slum Volunteers
• Designing of the Urban Risk Assessment kit

6. School Safety

7. Understanding School Safety- from school
perspectives
Dhaka Chittagong Sylhet
Khulna Shyamnagar Sathkhera
Netrakona Jamalpur

8. Steps of School Safety and Preparedness

9. Lessons learned
Making
building
Towards School Safety
structure
safe
Non-
structural
Mitigation
School
Safety
Planning
Awareness
Creation on Mandatory or
Basics of
DRR a Choice?
No Initiatives

10. Way Forward
1. Integrating DRR in School Curricula (?)
2. Safer school construction

11. DIPECHO Bangladesh
Mass Casualty Management

12. Possible Scenario
DIPECHO Bangladesh
Promising Practices from
DIPECHO V Program
Source: UNDP

13. Why Mass casualty Management
• Capacities of the
hospitals
overwhelmed in the
event of a disaster
• Limited capacity of
the hospitals in terms
of trained HR and
equipments

14. Process and Achievements
Developed
understanding
Demonstrated
Enhance
skill during fire
coordination
incident
MCM manual
develop and Institutionalization
contingency plan of MCM
as output
Capacity built

15. Way Forward
Strengthening Introducing
MCM at National Plan of New Technology
National and MCM and Instruments
District level for MCM

16. Enhance Voluntarism in Urban Areas:
Achievements

17. Process and Achievements
MoU with
Home
Ministry
and FSCD
Equipping
Capacity
volunteer on
building of
emergency
Volunteers
response
Continuous Replication
support by with other
FSCD agencies

18. DIPECHO Bangladesh
MFR and SAR

19. Way forward
Encourage Institutionalizing
Policy women Strengthening Volunteers roles
review and person capacity and
dialogue with program responsibilities in
disabilities SOD

20. Earthquake and Fire Preparedness in
Garment Factories
• 80% of the export revenue
• Around 2.4 million people working in 4500 garment
factories
• Most of the buildings where the factories are
established have not been constructed for industry
• Multi storied building with high population, no
evacuation plan
• Most of the worker are young girls and illiterate or
half literate
• Fire incidents in garment factories is a common
phenomenon
• Understanding their language: labor laws, factories
act, safety audit

21. Process and Achievements
Change in behavior
of BGMEA
Inclusion of
Capacity building of
Earthquake
1000 compliance
Training Manual
officer
into Fire module
Coordinated effort by
garment authorities, govt Development of IEC
department and material
community volunteers
Garment
Simulation
Guideline

22. Way Forward
• Replication of this model in other factories
and EPZs which is labor intensive
• Enhance investment by the garment factory
workers on safety measures of the works
• Sharing this model with the larger community