15. Impacts of Cyclone Aila on Educational Institutions: A Study of South-Western Bangladesh

Bangladesh is considered one of the most disaster-prone countries in South Asia; the country is frequently threatened, mainly by floods and cyclones. Aila, a Category 1 cyclone, hit the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh on 25 May 2009. About 2.3 million people were affected by Aila. This paper is about the damage wreaked by Cyclone Aila on the educational institutions of Bangladesh. The study area is Khulna District’s affected Upazilas (Thana), namely Dacope, Koyra and Paikgachha. A rapid assessment was carried out by the education cluster in the three most affected Upazilas and it was estimated that a total of 365 schools out of 480 had been affected. This study selects three criteria to measure the damage to educational institutions. Most of the damage information was collected from secondary sources; impact information was collected by field survey. Simple random sampling is applied here. Generally, children are the most vulnerable group in all types of disaster, but there are no major educational programmes related to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in primary or secondary schools in Bangladesh. Thus, teaching DRR in schools will help raise awareness and give better understanding, not just for children and teachers but in the community at large. At the same time, investing in strengthening school building structures before disasters take place would help reduce long-term costs, protect the community and the children, and ensure educational continuity after the event. This study focuses on these points.