An emergency exit at the 13-storey residential building in Gulshan that went ablaze on Sunday night could have helped prevent the deaths from the fire, said Md Mijanur Rahman, director general of the Department of Disaster Management (DDM).
At least two people succumbed to death in the incident after jumping from the 11th floor of the building.
Mijanur exemplified the Gulshan fire incident while speaking about building safety at a research-sharing programme on the impacts of climate change on the livelihoods of the people living in southwest coastal and slum areas on Monday in Dhaka.
He said, “Once, the country used to record millions of deaths from disasters. The number of casualties has reduced significantly over the years. Now we consider double-digit fatalities the most in bigger incidents. If there was a well-connected emergency exit, these deaths would also have been prevented.”
He urged building authorities to identify corners for people to take shelter and build safe exits to get out during disasters like earthquakes and fire incidents.
Educo Bangladesh organised the programme to share the findings of research by Professor Abdullah Harun Chowdhury, Department of Environmental Science, Khulna University.
The research was done under a project titled ‘Strengthening the capacity of those displaced by disasters and climate-related causes to cope with adverse situations’, in two separate locations of Shyamnagar and Satkhira Municipality. Educo and Uttaran are implementing the project with the support of the European Union and UNOPS.
Prof Abdullah said the major findings of the research demonstrate the lack of climate-resilient economic livelihoods which forcefully displaces the people of Shyamnagar.
He recommended zonation of the land and introducing saline-tolerant crop varieties. In addition, he suggested building the capacity of the climate-vulnerable community to face future climatic shocks and reduce the rate of climate-induced displacement.
Koen Everaert, team leader, Green Inclusive Development and Social Protection, EU Delegation called on authorities to consider the recommendations of the research for further actions and hoped it will make significant improvements in the lives of people living in dire situations.
