One month after cyclone Aila hit Bangladesh, women are being trained to raise the alarm by the Bangladesh Red Crescent through a British Red Cross co-funded project. (All photos: Claudia Janke/British Red Cross)
Women gather in Noapara cyclone shelter to discuss preparedness activities. Until the start of the project in this area, women and children did not use their cyclone shelter even though it was easily accessible.
Shukoda remembers the cyclone of 1970, killing 500,000 people. "Everything was destroyed. We had no safe drinking water and food did not reach us for days." She is now a cyclone warning volunteer.
With storms such as Cyclone Aila expected to become more frequent, women's forums have been set up to encourage women and children to use shelters and prepare for disasters.
Nurjahan, 60, is a Red Crescent volunteer from Noapara and is a member of her local disaster preparedness committee. She encourages other women to wear more modern clothes during cyclones to prevent drowning.
Getting people to respond to impending cyclones is a key part of the problem. Farmers are often reluctant to leave their livestock and crops to go to a shelter, while many children see them only as play areas.
Volunteers like Chabi Rani, 32, are trying to encourage people to use the shelters whenever a cyclone strikes. She prepared her community when cyclone Aila struck and her actions no doubt saved many lives.
Cyclone shelters like this are now to be seen throughout Bangladesh. New ways are currently been developed to get people to use them - the latest being a system of text messages to alert people of impending storms.
Aid workers say that shelters alone are not enough. After a cyclone, vast areas are inundated with saline water which affects sanitation. "We need to train people how to respond before and after a storm," one said.
What are these?
One-Minute World News 
E-mail this to a friend 
Bookmark with:
What are these?