DHAKA, 28 March 2005 — Bangladesh has mooted an idea to set up a regional disaster management center here to provide early warning of natural disasters and to take quick response, Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan said yesterday.
“We have proposed to set up a South Asian Center for Disaster Management by upgrading the current SAARC Meteorological Research Center in Dhaka to efficiently face natural disasters often devastating our region,” Khan said.
Foreign Ministry officials said the idea of creating the center came up after parts of the region were battered by a killer tsunami, killing over 49,000 people in India, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Bangladesh and India also face annual floods that kill thousands of people and make millions homeless every year.
A ministry official said India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka had also offered to host the proposed center.
“Now it is up to the SAARC members to decide where the center to be located. But its importance has been strongly felt in the wake of the tsunami,” Khan said.
SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
A SAARC summit due to be held this year in Dhaka has been twice postponed — first in January following the tsunami and then in February after India’s prime minister declined to attend.
Bangladesh says it is hoping for a new summit date to be worked out and announced by Pakistan, current chairman of the grouping.
Tornado Toll Rises to 65
The death toll from last week’s tornado has gone up to 65 with four more persons succumbing to their injuries yesterday.
However, government officials confirmed only 61 deaths so far.
Official sources said normalcy is returning in the tornado-hit districts of Gaibandha and Rangpur.
