Tomorrow's Cox’s Bazaar

Jalia Palong Union Parishad, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Jalia Palong is a very promising and beautiful union located in the southwestern part of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila of the tourist city of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. The distance of this union from the Ukhia Upazila headquarters is about 10 kilometers. Cox’s Bazar Municipality and Jhelongja Union to the north of this union; Patali Teknaf Upazila to the south; Rajapalong Union to the east. Jalia Palong is a union located in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh’s Ukhia Upazila. The food security, economic vulnerability, market access, employment possibilities, and environment of the Bangladeshi host villages have apparently been significantly impacted by the sudden and large growth in the refugee population, which is centered in the south of the district in Ukhia and Teknaf. Informal settlements, urban growth, and other issues are common in the region. The creation of sustainable housing, services, and infrastructure that satisfies community requirements can be facilitated by Tomorrow’s Cities. The Jalia Palong union in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar is dealing with a number of environmental issues like cyclone, landslide and flood.

Jalia Palong has a total land area of 27 km2, with a population of 58318. The annual growth rate is 1.37%. There are 58 mosques, and 2 temples. It has 50 villages and 8511 families in this union. Moreover, 2 growth centres exist here. The local government comprises 9 wards which has 12 ward members including 3 female and one union parishad chairman. Jalia Palong has 17 primary schools, 2 high schools, 8 madrasa, and 1 Upazila Health Center. The literacy rate is 27.16%. Its road network consists of 17 paved roads and 74 mud roads, and 29 bridges or culverts. Moreover, there exists 1 canal/river.

Urban Context and Development Trend

The level of urbanization in Bangladesh is now 38% which is projected to become 66% in 2050. The population growth rate in Jalia Palong is 1.37%. A 20-year-long master plan to transform the tourism city Cox’s Bazar into a modern and smart city is likely to be initiated next month.

Multi-hazard context

The coastal zone of Bangladesh has been recognised as one of the top fifteen risk hotspots around the globe, being exposed to multiple environmental hazards including cyclone, storm surges, sea-level rise, flooding, shoreline erosion, land degradation, salinity ingression, and subsidence including earthquake. Cox’s Bazar is located in the coastal zoom which has been subjected to medium to major levels of natural disaster. The unprecedented urban infrastructure planning and industrialisation within the next few years are assumed to change the current scenario of Cox’s Bazar city. A proper prediction of the multi-hazard risk due to the modern modern urbanisation and industrialisation of these cities is important for safe living. Therefore, with the help of the TCDSE framework, the local research time is intended to assess the risk of multi-hazards of Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar cities.

Jalia Palong is a disaster-prone area subjected to cyclone, flood, tsunami, liquefaction, fire and earthquake. This year, monsoon flooding has caused five deaths and nearly 300,000 people across 60 union parishads in Cox’s Bazar have been impacted. This zone is classified as one of the deadliest zones in the Bangladesh National Building Code-2020 due to potential earthquakes. Due to sandy geological strata, this area is also highly susceptible to liquefaction. A comprehensive study done by Comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP) claimed that this zone is highly vulnerable for cyclones, storm surges and tsunamis.

Past DRR Works

The local research team comprises social scientists, GIS experts, and natural hazards modellers. Some of the past DRR work done the research teams is mentioned below.

• CDMP I (2009) which was a Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme on Chattogram city. It focused on the Seismic Hazard Assessment [and Secondary Hazards (e.g., Liquefaction)], Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Buildings, Scenario Seismic Risk Assessment of Buildings, Infrastructure Systems, and Essential Facilities using HAZUS.
• Tsunami & Cyclone Vulnerabilities of Cyclone Centres, Schools, Colleges, etc., Hospitals, Emergency Facilities and estimation of social loss in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar cities.
• Earthquake Vulnerability Assessment of Existing Buildings in Cox’s-Bazar using Field Survey & GIS
• Tropical cyclone risk mapping for a coastal city using geospatial techniques.
• Seismic Safety Assessment of Government Primary School Buildings in Chittagong City Corporation.

Present DRR Agenda

To achieve the SDG goals, the Government of Bangladesh and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief establish plannings, rules regulations and different agendas on disaster risk reduction throughout the country. Among these, the Disaster Management Act 2012, Disaster Management policy 2015, Bangladesh National Building Code-2020, 100-year Bangladesh Delta Plan-2100, National Disaster Management Plan for the period 2021-2025 and SENDAI Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction are remarkable. The primary goal of these agenda is “Action for Disaster Risk Management Towards Resilient Nation”. The NPDM 2021-2025 targets align with the SFDRR our priorities and Asian Regional Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction (ARPDRR) with the vision of “Winning resilience together against all disasters”

The extensive stakeholder and expert consultations undertaken to develop NPDM 2021-2025 focused on the following SFDRR priorities and action plans were derived following an ‘all-hazards’ approach with hazard-specific activities linked to broader priority level action plans.

Priority 1: Understanding disaster risk.

Priority 2: Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk.

Priority 3: Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience.

Priority 4: Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

Future Development Project or Initiatives

The GoV of Bangladesh has planned 77 projects in Cox’s Bazar with the vision of 2041 in order to develop the coastal slope by the Bay of Bengal like a Singapore or Hong Kong city. Sabrang Exclusive Tourist Zone of Teknaf on 1139 acres. Some of future projects nearest to the proposed area are Jaliyardip Exclusive Tourist Zone of Teknaf on 271 acres of land, Ramu Pechardip National Oceanic Research Institute on land 29.5 acres at cost of Tk. 8075 lakh, Jalia Palong shelter project on 253.35 acres having a Sheikh Hasina tower and 149 multi-storeyed buildings, Cox’s Bazar International Airport Project at a cost of Tk 1123.32 crore, Dohazari-Ramu to Cox’s Bazar to Ghumudhum Railroad at a cost of Tk 18, 034 crore, Matarbari Coal Electric Project on 1,414 acres of land at Maheshkhali at a cost of Tk 35, 984 crore, LNG Terminal at Maheshkhal including 90 km pipeline, Sonadia deep sea port, Construction of submarine base of the Navy in Pekua on 333 acres land, and Chattogram to Cox’s Bazar Express Way of total Budget, Core 2000 BDT. These projects will increase working opportunities, infrastructure development and economic development which is expected to rapidly increase the urbanisation in the proposed area.