An Assignment on

Disaster Preparedness: Cyclone Amphan 2020

[Course Title: Disaster Preparedness and Vulnerability Reduction]
[Course code: DMC-206]

Submitted to:
Dr. Nahid Rezwana
Ph.D. in Geography (Durham University, UK)
Associate Professor
Department of Geography and Environment
University of Dhaka

Submitted by:
Farzana Hasan
Roll no: 04
8th Batch-Bachelor of Disaster Management
Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies
University of Dhaka

Date of Submission: 09 September 2022

 Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3
Objectives: 3

2. Cyclone Amphan 2022 3

i. Meteorological History: 3
ii. Preparation Prior to Cyclone Amphan: 4
a. GoB(Government of Bangladesh): 4
b. Armed Forces: 5
c. CPP (Cyclone Preparedness Programme) 5
d. BMD (Bangladesh Meteorological Department) 5
e. NGO 6
f. Community’s Involvement 6

3. Challenges 6

4. Successful or Unsuccessful Preparedness 7

5. Conclusion 7
References 8
 1. Introduction
The International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies defines disaster
management as the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for
dealing with all the humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response
and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters. Preparedness is a crucial phase of
disaster management for strengthening community resilience. According to ICRC, Disaster
Preparedness refers to measures taken to prepare for and reduce the effects of disasters, be
they natural or man-made. Bangladesh has a very high risk of disaster. Geographical location,
land characteristics, numerous rivers, impact of climate change, population explosion,
unplanned urbanization and industrialization contribute to the disaster risk. Cyclonic storms
have been the most frequent disasters affecting Bangladesh, followed by floods. On May
20th, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the catastrophic Super Cyclone Amphan
swept through Bangladesh and Eastern India. The government of Bangladesh, along with a
number of non-governmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations
(INGO), collaborated on preparedness efforts to lessen the disastrous effects of the cyclone.

Objectives: This study intends to provide a summary of the disaster preparedness measures
conducted prior to Cyclone Amphan. Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan was a severe and
disastrous tropical cyclone that caused extensive damage in Eastern India, particularly West
Bengal and Odisha, as well as in Bangladesh. In this paper, the disaster preparedness prior to
Cyclone Amphan in Bangladesh will be examined.

2. Cyclone Amphan 2022

i. Meteorological History: Amphan formed on 13 May 2020 from a low-pressure
region 300 km east of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center
(JTWC) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) upgraded the disturbance to
a tropical depression on 15 May. Amphan intensified rapidly on 17 May, becoming a
strong cyclone in 12 hours. Amphan peaked on 18 May at 12:00 UTC with 3-minute
sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph), 1-minute sustained winds of 270 km/h (170
mph), and a minimum central barometric pressure of 920 mbar (27.17 inHg). The
storm began an eyewall replacement cycle shortly after reaching its peak intensity,
 however dry air and wind shear disturbed this process and weakened Amphan as it
paralleled India's eastern coast. On the morning of May 20, 2020, Tropical Cyclone
Amphan slammed into India and Bangladesh.

Figure 1: Forecast path of Cyclone Amphan by the US-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center

ii. Preparation Prior to Cyclone Amphan: Authorities in Bangladesh have

undertaken comprehensive preparatory measures to lessen the impact of the
vulnerable population. A National Disaster Management Council (NDMC) was
formed which reviewed the preparations for the super cyclone. At national level,
since 19 May 2020, the Needs Assessment Working Group (NAWG) under the
Humanitarian Coordination Task Team (HCTT) has produced regular reports on the
situation overview and anticipated impact. Besides, the crucial role of different
ministries, armed forces, CPP, and different NGO is highlighting below:

a. GoB (Government of Bangladesh): Under the direction of the Ministry of Disaster

Management and Relief (MODMR), the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) prepared
plans to assist in the evacuation of up to two million people, including 712,000
children under the age of 18, to cyclone shelters in order to lessen the effects of the
cyclone on exposed populations. In accordance with COVID-19 preventative
measures, 12,078 cyclone shelters were prepared to house evacuees. Upazila health
complexes were planned for the isolation of evacuees displaying symptoms similar to
those of COVID-19. All shelters were equipped with masks, sanitizers, hand-washing
facilities, and soap. The Super Cyclone Amphan is predicted to wreak significant
damage, therefore the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry established a control room to
 handle the situation. The central control room line was 029122557. It served 19
coastal districts around-the-clock. To prevent a loss of crop production estimated at
12%, the Bangladeshi Ministry of Agriculture recommended coastal farmers to
harvest all mature paddy fields. The GoB also allocated 3,100 metric tons (MT) of
rice and 42,000 packets of food along with funds for children’s food ($36,400) and
animal feed ($32,900) and US58,700 in cash to 19 risk-prone districts.

b. Armed Forces: Prior to this, the Army and civic authorities had coordinated their
efforts before and after natural disasters. This time, it assembled 71 medical teams
and 18,400 packets of humanitarian supplies. The ISPR stated that up to 145 disaster
management teams with specialized equipment were also prepared to be sent quickly.
It further stated that a second team of specialists with landslide response experience
was prepared to be sent to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to save the
Myanmar citizens who had been forcibly displaced. Rescue and relief efforts would
be joined by the Army Aviation Group. Additionally available were speedboats, water
treatment facilities, outboard motors, rescue boats, and landing craft vehicles and
utilities. According to the ISPR, two Navy ships have departed to transport residents
away from isolated shoals in Satkhira. Additionally, two helicopters and two marine
patrol aircraft were prepared to perform search operations over the Bay of Bengal and
in the coastal regions. Navy contingents and specialized medical teams was stationed
in the storm-affected areas. With the aid of six transport aircraft and 22 helicopters,
the Air Force was ready to survey the damage and conduct medical, relief, and rescue
operations.

c. CPP (Cyclone Preparedness Programme): 55,515 volunteers from the Cyclone

Preparedness Programme (CPP) were deployed in 355 unions of 19 at-risk districts to
promote awareness and urge people to seek shelter, thereby assisting government
operations. In cyclone shelters, maintaining social distance to avoid the spread of
COVID-19 is a serious problem. In this backdrop, the government ordered the
cleaning of all shelters and the conversion of all elementary and secondary schools
and madrassas in priority locations into cyclone shelters to give greater capacity.

d. BMD (Bangladesh Meteorological Department): The Bangladesh Meteorological

Department (BMD) issued a special weather bulletin on May 19, 2020, stating that the
"super cyclone" Amphan was located over west central Bay and the surrounding area,
and that it was expected to move north-eastward and possibly cross the Bangladesh
 coast between Khulna and Chattogram late on the evening of May 19 or early on the
afternoon of May 20. Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Jhalokathi, Pirojpur, Borguna,
Patuakhali, Bhola, Barisal, Laxmipur, Chandpur, and their outlying islands and chars
were placed under "great danger" signal number 10 by the BMD on May 20.

e. NGO: In the worst vulnerable areas of the country, UNICEF has prepositioned
emergency supplies to cover the needs of up to 1.5 million people, and is ready to
activate contingency agreements with partners to deliver emergency WASH,
nutrition, health, child protection, and educational services. In addition to closely
following the situation's development, BDRCS, the IFRC Country Office (CO), and
other Movement partners also worked closely with the GoB at both the national and
district levels. As per government orders, BDRCS and CPP collaborated to carry out
life-saving cyclone readiness actions in accordance with the COVID-19 scenario in all
susceptible unions of the thirteen coastal districts, including the camp settlements in
Cox's Bazar. More than 70,000 trained volunteers (including CPP volunteers) in First
Aid, Search and Rescue, and disaster management were being deployed by BDRCS to
assist local authorities in evacuating the population.

f. Community’s Involvement: CEA is an approach to Red Cross Red Crescent

programming and operations, and it refers to collaborative means of working with the
people and communities. CEA approach was also incorporated into the Cyclone
Amphan project cycle management, including community risks and vulnerability
ranking, publishing the beneficiary list, ensuring accountability in humanitarian
resource allocation, adopting community feedback in programme design and
planning, acting on feedback/complaints, follow-up and physical verification of
households, and sharing lessons learned with communities.

3. Challenges

The devastating cyclone struck at a time when cases of the novel coronavirus disease were on
the rise (COVID-19). During the COVID-19 epidemic, lockdowns and travel restrictions
hindered the response and evacuation procedure. The difficulty was protecting the vulnerable
population in the emergency shelters from both Cyclone Amphan and COVID-19. Lack of
emergency medical facilities and sanitation support was observed.

Due to a lack of institutional coordination in the broadcast of warning information from the
central level, misleading information has been provided in some locations, causing confusion
and misunderstanding about emergency alerts at the local level.

Although the world's largest refugee camp, Cox's Bazar, is anticipated to escape the worst of
the storm, the danger rating has been upgraded from six to nine, indicating a significant
threat. A COVID-19 epidemic and a severe cyclone were threatening almost a million
Rohingya refugees in overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar. The greatest concern was for the
lives of the over 300 people who had been transferred to the Bhasan Char Island, Noakhali at
that time by the Bangladeshi government.

4. Successful or Unsuccessful Preparedness

Global community applauds Bangladesh's cyclone management. Historically, one event
caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. While Bhola cyclone of November, 1970 killed
more than half a million people, the 29 April 1991 hurricane killed relatively less people (one
hundred fifty thousand). SIDR (2007) and AILA (2009) killed 3,500 and 150 respectively.
Death toll in the 260 km speed Amphan (2020) was only 20. Though the mortality toll was
low, the damage rate was significant. 205,368 houses were damaged, and 55,767 houses were
destroyed in the 19 affected districts. A total of 26 people lost their lives. In addition, 40,894
latrines, 18,235 water points, 32,037 hectares of crops and vegetables, 18,707 hectares of fish
cultivation area, 440km of road, and 76km of embankments were damaged. So, whether the
cyclone Amphan preparedness program is successful or not still needs to be assessed.

5. Conclusion
In recent years, the Bangladeshi government has adopted an extensive and integrated strategy
to disaster management. There has been a change in recent years toward recognizing the
crucial responsibilities of pre-disaster mitigation and preparedness as well as non-structural
interventions. As a result, preparedness and response capacity have both improved. This
strong institutional partnership strategy, however, largely exists on paper only. While
individual stakeholders continue to contribute significantly, there is still a lack of synergy and
multiplier effects. Besides, the drawbacks of a top-down management strategy have become
apparent. Scholars and stakeholders believe it is vital to establish a new strategy that directly
incorporates vulnerable people in mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. This
bottom-up approach is prominent because it considers communities to be the best judges of
their own vulnerability and well-being. Government can serve as a regulator and facilitator in
this regard. Collaboration between the government, NGOs, and communities that blends
bottom-up and top-down techniques will be an effective attempt to strengthen community
resilience.

References
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2. Asia Pacific Humanitarian Update - Cyclone Amphan: Flash Update (21 May 2020) |
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