In the wake of the storm which left at least 134,000 people dead or missing and more than 2 million homeless in Myanmar, Bangladesh is expanding a disaster preparedness program that has already won international praise and been credited with saving an untold number of lives. At schools across the flood-prone south, thousands of students are practicing packing emergency kits, listening for warning sirens, and running for higher ground. Plans are under way to expand a network of 2,500 temporary shelters and volunteers are rehearsing their warning calls over megaphones and speakers. The preparations have worked in the past. Cyclone Sidr killed 3,400 people last year and left millions homeless, a toll that aid officials said would have been far worse if not for emergency warnings. Preparedness programs are relatively simple. All that is needed are effective warning calls, emergency shelters and access to food and clean water. In Bangladesh's case, the warnings are often sounded by megaphones attached to bicycle handlebars, while shelter can be simply concrete boxes on high ground. Had Myanmar had such a program in place, scores of lives could have been saved, experts say. ActionAid Bangladesh, a relief group working on disaster programs, is focusing on preparing children in the classroom. “When a kid goes to school, he earns a voice in the family,” said Farah Kabir, the group's director.
