“Post-disaster management”
Mr. Asif Anwar in his article (November 27, 2007) mentioned, “However, another agency within our government will create more confusion than coordination (in relief distribution etc.), given the reputation and success of our civilian rulers of the last 35 years.”
Natural disasters are no stranger to Bangladesh. During the last 35 years we had major natural disasters like flood, cyclone, tornado and what not. It is the agencies concerned within our government with the help of civil administration and also the armed forces that took the initiative and faced those calamities. It is true that most of our politicians are a lot more interested in their own well being, instead of that of the countrymen. It is a common misconception to picture government employees as willing aides to the misdeeds of political leaders. It is unfortunate to try to undermine the long history of arduous work done by the government agencies dealing with relief and rehabilitation.
The armed forces have the reputation of extending their helping hand to civil administration in relief work etc., though their major area of specialisation is warfare. There are agencies within the government with major area of specialization in coordination of relief distribution etc. and naturally those agencies know best how to do that. Everyone should be given their due credit. If Mr. Asif Anwar noticed the news items along with the advertisements in the leading newspapers he would know that in spite of claims of enough relief material stock and more relief materials pouring in from abroad, thousands of Sidr survivors are not getting any relief only due to lack of proper coordination.
The term 'post-disaster management' points to an array of activities like rehabilitation of road network, restoration of electricity, telephone and other utility services, long term planning for such disasters etc. including relief work, the only thing the author was concerned with.
One of the reasons of the present sorry state of the country is the blind admirers who seem to sing hymn of any and all the actions of whoever is in power and critical of all actions of the opposition. It is time to grow up and get out of the vicious tradition of sycophancy and develop an attitude to give due credit to the deserving people or agencies. The ground reality is thousands of hapless people including women, children and disabled are starving and crying out for some food out there in the cold. It is time to ensure a proper coordination of the relief work through the efforts of the local civil administration, local government bodies, engineering organisations, disaster management agencies and the joint forces so that thousands of destitute people can survive.
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