The Aftermath of Natural Disasters in Bangladesh and a Proposal to Minimise Casualty

Bangladesh is a low-lying country located in the southern foothills of the Himalayas, and is prone to global climate change, heavy precipitation, urbanization, man-made environment unfriendly alterations, etc. Consequently, every year, the country faces different types of natural disasters like flood, cyclone, drought, and river erosion. The objective of this paper is to study the occurrence and impact of the natural disasters, and to initiate appropriate remedies for the vulnerable groups. Data from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) is used for accomplishing the purpose of this paper. The various natural disasters that occurred in the past 10 years (2010-2019) and the population that was affected during the disasters, especially the vulnerable group - children, women, and aged persons, are given dedicated focus. Data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is used to ensure that the people considered for the study had spent most of their lives at households in Bangladesh. Data from the United Nations World Population Prospects 2019, the World Bank, and IBRD-IDA were analyzed for observing the population structure of Bangladesh. A few published web reports, scientific articles, and relevant literature have been sourced to fetch representations for various graphical charts. It is observed that, amongst all the natural disasters, maximum damage to the population has been caused by flood (69%) and storm (30%) which occur frequently every year compared to other natural disasters. In the population pyramid of Bangladesh, the male and female ratio of the active and in-active population (children, aged people etc.) is almost same. This indicated that the vulnerable group are at risk during natural disasters. With its findings and proposals, this paper strives to supplement the government preparedness program for pre and post natural disaster, and minimize health hazards.