Authorities in Bangladesh today signed an agreement with two cellphone operators to warn people of impending disasters like cyclone and floods, dpa cited officials as saying. The agreement will now enable mobile phone users in coastal Cox's Bazar district, vulnerable to cyclones, and north-central Sirajganj, a flood-prone district during the monsoon, to see disaster forecasts on their handsets. "The subscribers will be able to read the cell-generated automatic message on reduction of disaster risk on their phone screens," said a statement issued by the disaster management ministry after launching the project on pilot basis. The programme will be expanded across the country through UN- sponsored Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, said Abdur Razzaque, the food and disaster management minister. The Disaster Management Bureau signed the agreement with the mobile phone operators - Grameenphone and state-owned Teletalk - to pilot the project for six months. The frequency of natural calamities, including floods and cyclones, has increased because of global warming, wreaking havoc across the Ganges basin. In the latest disaster, more than 3 million people were affected by the Cyclone Aila that pounded Bangladesh's coastal districts causing deaths of nearly 200 people in late May.
