City dwellers urged take own preparations against disasters 

Speakers at a programme Sunday emphasized school and community-based urban Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), resilient building and the role of local government for sustainable development.

They also urged the city dwellers to take personal preparedness against four major disasters - fire, heavy rain, earthquake and lightning.

The suggestions came at a workshop at a city hotel organised by Japan-based global non-government organization 'SEEDS Asia' in partnership with Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) supported by the Japanese foreign ministry.  

A DRR campaign was launched under Seeds Asia's project titled 'School-based Capacity Building for Enhanced Disaster Risk Reduction in Dhaka North City Corporation' to encourage the city dwellers to take action on their own to make the city safer and stronger to natural and human-induced disasters.

The campaign is implemented under three pillars--- DRR education, DRR infrastructure set up, and building awareness. 

SEEDs Asia's Project Coordinator Miharu Sato informed that a video production regarding the campaign was made where school kids show how every citizen can take preparedness on their own against these disasters.  

She urged all to take actions against different disasters and share those through Facebook under the hashtag "#durjogeamraa" as the project is running a Facebook page named "দুর্যোগে আমরা to make the community aware regarding various urban disasters.       

The project was implemented at two schools in Dhaka - Model Academy Mirpur and Lalmatia Housing Society School and College on a pilot basis to implement the DRR approach so that the school teachers and children can make their area resilient to disasters involving the community members.  

At the programme, DNCC Additional Chief Engineer Tariq Bin Yusuf said the DNCC has committed to making the city safer and stronger against various disasters and has been actively carrying out a variety of projects on DRR.

"This school-based DRR project is an important part of it," he said.

Several disaster-related manuals and handbooks were also distributed to the teachers, students and community members across the city during the project duration.