Community preparedness in Bangladesh: learning from Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj districts following the floods of 2007

This publication highlights lessons learnt, asserting that awareness and preparedness enabled flood prone communities in Gaibandha, Bogra and Srajgong districts of Bangladesh to cope with and recover from the floods of 2007. Adjacent communities, who were unprepared suffered greater losses. Volunteers, community coherence, Early Warning Systems and the implementation of preparedness plans were shown to be important in enabling communities to cope.

This research was undertaken by Practical Action during the implementation of a DFID CHF funded project entitled "mainstreaming livelihood centred approaches to disaster management".