National Disaster Preparedness Day-2026 was celebrated in Gopalganj with various arrangements. Keeping in mind the themes of “We will fight in disaster preparedness, build Bangladesh of youth” and “We must conquer the fear of earthquakes”, a disaster preparedness and awareness exercise was held in Gopalganj with great enthusiasm. The exercise was held at Sushasan Chattar in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Tuesday (March 10) at 10 am, organized by the district administration and implemented by the Disaster Management Department and the Ministry of Relief.
The event was inaugurated by Gopalganj Deputy Commissioner and learned District Magistrate (Deputy Secretary) Md. Arif-uz-Zaman. In his inaugural speech, he emphasized on strictly following the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) in the construction of buildings. The Deputy Commissioner also mentioned that no technology has been invented in the world yet to predict earthquakes. Earthquakes do not directly affect people, but rather cause extensive damage to life and property due to the collapse of faulty buildings.
Therefore, proper preparation and awareness can reduce this risk to a large extent. At that time, Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) SM Tarek Sultan, Additional Superintendent of Police (DSB) Muhammad Sarwar Hossain, District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer and General Secretary of Gopalganj Red Crescent Unit Mohammad Ataur Rahman, Assistant Director of District Narcotics Control Department Nabi Newaz, District Education Officer Md. Ruhul Amin, Deputy Assistant Director of District Fire Service and Civil Defense Shiplu Ahmed, Red Crescent Unit Level Officer Biplob Kumar Biswas, Youth Head Zubair Khan along with other officials, employees, teachers, students and the general public were present.
During the exercise, a combined team of fire service, Red Crescent members, medical team and volunteer force demonstrated various disaster rescue operations and first aid. How to respond quickly and save lives in emergency situations like fire and earthquake was demonstrated in a hands-on manner. This special exercise organized at the Sushasan Chattar of the district administration was witnessed by a large number of local common people and media personnel. This timely initiative of the administration to reduce the risk of disaster has been widely appreciated.