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. 2021 Dec 9;18(24):13010.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413010.

Potential of Community Volunteers in Flood Early Warning Dissemination: A Case Study of Bangladesh

Murtuza Al-Mueed  1   2 , Md Rafique Ahasan Chawdhery  3 , Emmanuel Harera  2 , Riyadh A Alhazmi  4 , Abdulmajeed M Mobrad  4 , Saqer M Althunayyan  5 , Ahmed M Al-Wathinani  4
Affiliations

Potential of Community Volunteers in Flood Early Warning Dissemination: A Case Study of Bangladesh

Murtuza Al-Mueed et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Flood early warning (FEW) is a vital component of disaster risk management and is particularly important for saving lives, developing a sustainable agro-based economy, economic stability, and the overall development of the people of Bangladesh as well as others. This study was conducted in a northern, flood-prone area of Bangladesh to investigate the potential of incorporating volunteers of the community to the Union Councils (UCs) to disseminate FEW alongside the top-down approach. Several studies have found that despite having a sophisticated flood forecasting technology, local communities are not reaping the benefits of it, as the existing dissemination system is inaccessible to most local people. Since risk communication takes place in a social context, this study investigated and thereby proposed that volunteerism, as a form of social capital or communal virtue, can potentially assist the community-based disaster management (CBDM) institutions in enhancing their capacity to reach the maximum population at times of flood risk. Therefore, it was confirmed that the trained volunteers need to be integrated into and endorsed by the national policy. In addition, this study also provides a number of recommendations connecting literature with policy documents of Bangladesh.

Keywords: community volunteerism; disaster management; disaster volunteer group; flood early warning; flood response; governance and planning; resilience; sustainability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
FEW dissemination networks from national to UC in Bangladesh (adopted from Shah et al. [7]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Hydrological system of Bangladesh and the location of the study area.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic representation of the thematic map followed in this study to investigate the relationship of community volunteers with FEW.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Recognizing the role of volunteers in FEW. Responses from the participants of this study.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Expected means of communicating a FEW. Responses from the participants of this study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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