Revisiting disaster preparedness in coastal communities since 1970s in Bangladesh with an emphasis on the case of tropical cyclone Amphan in May 2020

Understanding the nexus between public risk perception of COVID-19 and evacuation behavior during cyclone Amphan in Bangladesh

“…Bangladesh is regarded as the land of disaster as the country experienced more than 200 natural disasters in the last three decades, which causes massive destruction of livelihoods and economy and the deterrent in the path of accomplishing sustainability (Reliefweb, 2020;Alam and Haque, 2018;Alam et al, 2019a,b;Islam et al, 2019;Alam and Haque, 2020). The country's prolonged coastline, which is residence to around 35 million people, gets continuously battered by cyclones and other disasters in the most imperiled way (Karim and Mimura, 2008;Rahman and Rahman, 2015;Islam et al, 2021;Ha-mim et al, 2020;Ha-mim and Hossain, 2021). Cyclone is one of Bangladesh's most recurring disasters due to its unique geophysical setting, triangular-shaped coastline geography, high sea temperature, etc (Paul, 2009;Dasgupta et al, 2014;Islam et al, 2021).…”

“…The country's prolonged coastline, which is residence to around 35 million people, gets continuously battered by cyclones and other disasters in the most imperiled way (Karim and Mimura, 2008;Rahman and Rahman, 2015;Islam et al, 2021;Ha-mim et al, 2020;Ha-mim and Hossain, 2021). Cyclone is one of Bangladesh's most recurring disasters due to its unique geophysical setting, triangular-shaped coastline geography, high sea temperature, etc (Paul, 2009;Dasgupta et al, 2014;Islam et al, 2021). Due to utmost effort from the government side, Bangladesh succeeded to reduce the devastation of the cyclone through policy formulation, effective weather forecasting, and early warning system, improved emergency evacuation planning, implementing numerous structural and non-structural measures in the coastal area (Paul and Dutt, 2010;Ahsan et al, 2016a,b).…”

“…Cyclone is one of Bangladesh’s most recurring disasters due to its unique geophysical setting, triangular-shaped coastline geography, high sea temperature, etc. ( Paul, 2009 , Dasgupta et al , 2014 ; Islam et al, 2021 ). Due to utmost effort from the government side, Bangladesh succeeded to reduce the devastation of the cyclone through policy formulation, effective weather forecasting, and early warning system, improved emergency evacuation planning, implementing numerous structural and non-structural measures in the coastal area ( Paul and Dutt, 2010 ; Ahsan et al, 2016a , Ahsan et al, 2016b ).…”

“…Due to utmost effort from the government side, Bangladesh succeeded to reduce the devastation of the cyclone through policy formulation, effective weather forecasting, and early warning system, improved emergency evacuation planning, implementing numerous structural and non-structural measures in the coastal area ( Paul and Dutt, 2010 ; Ahsan et al, 2016a , Ahsan et al, 2016b ). Still, many people didn’t evacuate in Bangladesh’s past cyclones due to public cyclone shelter problems, early warning related issues, socio-economic problems, and non-evacuees’ perceptions ( Saha and James, 2017 ; Paul and Dutt, 2010 ; Islam et al,2021 ; Ahsan et al, 2016a , Ahsan et al, 2016b ). On 20 May 2020, Bangladesh had to face the Super Cyclone Amphan, the strongest cyclone ever originated in the Bay of Bengal, with 60-90 Km/h wind speed and high tidal inundation ( Ellis-Petersen and Ratcliffe, 2020 ; Vinoj and Swain, 2020; Mishra & Vanganuru, 2020 ; Majumdar and DasGupta, 2020 ).…”

Influence of Super Cyclone “Amphan” in the Indian Subcontinent amid COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Apart from permanent shelters, governments have also used temporary shelters in schools, community centers, and temporary medical centers (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52718826). Bangladesh also managed to evacuate its citizens by maintaining a physical distance and ensuring 12,000 temporary shelters with a capacity of 5.19 million population for 2.2 million evacuees with proper supplies of food and emergencies [ 18 ]. The timely evacuation of ~4.2 million people living along the coast and in the proximity of cyclone trajectory in India and Bangladesh [ 19 ], and the presence of the world’s largest contiguous Sundarbans mangrove, contributed in decreasing the intensity of the Amphan cyclone after landfall (https://bit.ly/3dn3WH0).…”