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L. Cumiskey (Deltares), R. Haque Khan (RIMES), M. Altamirano (Deltares) Mobile Services for Flood Early Warning in Bangladesh Abstract Project overview Evaluation results during the 2014 Monsoon Bangladesh is an extremely flood prone country and an effective flood warning system is essential for preparedness. Although Bangladesh has an extensive flood forecasting sys- • The majority of recipients (80%) had a high un- tem in place it remains a challenge to ensure that the warnings generated are available Voice message broadcast Agriculture Website Forecast 62% $640 derstanding and perceived usefulness of the publicly available (VMB) and accessible to those at risk. on website Fisheries $768 warnings. Although it was evident that the level of Volunteers (indirect VMB) Regular 26% Access to mobile services has increased dramatically in Bangladesh with current access FFWC & IVR Publicly available dissemination understanding grew after they received the mes- RIMES model run Livestock $678 Email IVR channels from at 80% of the population (BTRC, 2015). For this reason, a pilot warning communication and ouput nd rd the FFWC Govt. formal warning 1% sage for the 2 or 3 time. system was developed to disseminate Voice Message Broadcasts (VMB) directly to 40 Household, Health $384 List of national & • 78% of the respondents were found to trust the Media (radio & tv) 3% trained volunteers, 4 community gauge readers and 260 community people in two Unions district Business $160 warning message because they confirmed it with in Sirajganj during the 2014 floods. The warning message included a 5-day forecast for no answer 8% Most useful communication means Handloom $205 the volunteers and gauge readers. Localisation water level at a local gauge. It was generated and disseminated by the Flood Forecasting Water Level of the forecast SMS • The Water level gauges helped the community Gauge Readings 0 5 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 by RIMES and Warning Center utilizing information collected by gauge readers using SMS. The eval- helped the community to confirm the messages. uation survey results showed that a high percentage of respondents received (87%), un- % of respondents (N=91) Average savings (USD) per household per sector (N=91) derstood (80%), trusted (78%) and responded (72%) to the VMB warning. They shared the Forecast Improved Interpretation and dissemination warning and took preparatory actions such as netting fish ponds, harvesting crops and Voice Clips channels and message 260 Direct content from moving assets, saving them an estimated USD 472 per household. It is estimated recipients upazilla the FFWC Lal estimated his savings at 75,000 Abu saved his fish hatchery worth BDT Voice SMS & Union Level that 45% of the population directly or indirectly received the warnings. Recommendations Indirectly to the BDT (965 USD). He rearranged his 150,000 - 200,000 BDT (1,900 – Record the affected Voice Message for improving the VMB include increasing the number of trained VMB recipients, increasing 40 Trained machinery to avoid damage after 2,500USD) from a flood. He received Voice SMS Volunteers at the frequency of messages, disseminating at specific times of the day and adding location Union Level receiving the voice message warning flood early warning from the volunteers specific information. and validating it through the and he netted his pond to avoid the fish volunteers. being washed away with the flood- water. His preparatory action resulted in huge benefit for his fish culture. Evaluation methodology ‘Welcome to the FFWC of BWDB. Lal Chand Miah, Abu Sayeed, Fisherman Today Friday 15th August 2014. As per the observations of Hand Loomer, Union: Rajapur, Upazila: Belkuchi, 6 AM this morning Jamuna river Ghorjan, Chowhali, Sirajganj District: Sirajganj at Sirajgnaj is flowing 30 cm below Danger Level. According to the latest flood forecast water may rise 22 centimeters Conclusions & Recommendations in Ghorjan union, Chowhali upazila & 29 centimeters in Rajapur union, Belkuchi upazila • Increasing the message length and repeating the important parts of the message; in next 5 days.’ • Increase the frequency of the message dissemination, repeating more often for serious situations; Interviews (x100) • Send the message at specific times of the day (morning, lunch and one hour before dark) so they know when to expect the message and have enough time before sunset to respond; • Increase the number of direct VMB recipients to include more govt. officials, teachers and Imams supplemented with further email distribution at the local level from the FFWC; • Utilise the Digital Centers to play a stronger role in warning dissemination; Official govt. Focus Group • Disseminate the warnings to the private sector e.g. PRAN, BRAC; workshop Discussion (x10) Capacity building of community people, poster cumiskey, Lydia 16RS BD digital centers and volunteers • Aim to include as much location specific information as possible. For more information Address The project is currently in its second phase with support from Cordaid and www.deltares.nl P.O. Box 85467 continued to disseminate warnings during the 2015 monsoon. See poster www.deltares.nl [email protected] 3508 AL Utrecht, The Netherlands “Digital inclusion of flood affected communities” for more information. .

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