Project Overview
Bangladesh is prone to natural disasters and it suffers periodically from floods, cyclones, tidal surges, earthquakes, droughts, and outbreaks of disease.

With this project, IR helps communities at risk of natural disasters reduce their vulnerability and build their capacity to recover quickly.

Project Background
Over the last 15 years, Islamic Relief has had extensive and varied experience of disaster relief in Bangladesh, particularly after floods and cyclones.

This project builds on IR's experience and is designed to help communities develop their own organisations to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. The project will cover disaster prone areas around the country.

Project Objectives

• Building the capacity of vulnerable communities to cope with natural disasters
• Creating community and youth volunteers in the disaster prone areas
• Improving advocacy and networking with other organizations
• Creating a disaster emergency relief fund

Project Activities

• Introduce the project at community level
• Form a relief and rehabilitation committee  
• Form groups of community and youth volunteers
• Organise training and refresher courses for participants on first aid, water and sanitation, health and hygiene, environmental issues etc.

Beneficiaries
This project helps 240,863 people, of which 144,661 are male, and 96,202 female.

The project's main objective is to build the capacity of small communities to cope with natural disasters, but it operates on several levels from people in villages right up to civil servants and government officials.