Hospitals of the country need to be brought under contingency plans to face natural disasters, like earthquake, said speakers at a webinar held on Tuesday.

"Hospitals are a sensitive space as they house vulnerable people. This is why disaster management preparedness is extremely important for them," deputy director (humanitarian) of Save the Children in Bangladesh Nazmun Nahar said at the webinar.

Titled "Paving Resilience through City Governance", the session was hosted by The Daily Star, while Plan International Bangladesh organised it. Population Services and Training Centre (PSTC) partnered with Save the Children in Bangladesh to execute it.

Nazmun Nahar said five hospitals in Dhaka and one in Narayanganj are under contingency planning but similar plans should be in place for all hospitals, in line with the national policy.

As per the contingency plan, resource management and holding frequent mock drills are very important, she mentioned.

She spoke of the project being implemented in this regard. Titled "Strengthening institutional systems and governance mechanisms for improved earthquake preparedness and disaster response", it is funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).

Disaster risk management specialist Rezaul Karim said the hospital disaster management plan and hospital disaster guideline were prepared in 2009, while the government also prepared a contingency plan for nine medical college hospitals afterwards.

As per the instruction of the prime minister, the government is now in the process of preparing an emergency management guideline with the pandemic in consideration, he added. The government will start its work within the next couple of months, he said.

Stressing the need for more attention on risk reduction and contingency planning for disasters like earthquake, Manik Kumar Saha, acting Dhaka and country portfolio manager of Plan International Bangladesh, said, "Though Bangladesh is known as a disaster management champion globally, most of our expertise comes in dealing with disasters like flood and cyclone."

"We lag far behind when it comes to urban disasters like fire hazards, chemical pollution, or earthquakes," he said.

Emphasising the need for inter-agency coordination, Manik said there are 42 to 45 government organisations involved with service providing works but communication gap among them prevents service efficiency.

Action Aid Bangladesh's Morium Nesa said though policies are in place in the country, they need proper implementation to bring results.

"Hospitals need to safeguard themselves against disasters because they are the ones who will have to take care of people affected by the disasters," she pointed out.

The tri-session webinar was moderated by Yasna Rahman, project manager of Plan International Bangladesh, and Shahnawaz Whara, manager-coordinator, Urban Resilience Project, Save The Children in Bangladesh.

Among others, Dr Mahbubul Alam, population Services and Training Centre; Prof Shuchita Sharmin; Prof Mahbuba Nasrin; Mostafizur Rahman, humanitarian and resilience manager of Plan International Bangladesh; and Shuvashish Roy of The Daily Star addressed the programme.