By Sorwar Alam

ISTANBUL

Bangladesh and Turkey will share their expertise and experience on natural disaster management, according to Bangladesh’s minister of disaster management and relief.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency in Istanbul, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury said Bangladesh, with its more than 200 rivers, has experience in dealing with natural disasters caused by cyclones, floods and downpours.

The South Asian country experienced 219 natural disasters between 1980 and 2008, which included three major cyclones, according to the Asian Disaster Reduction Center.

On the other hand, he added, Turkey has expertise in dealing with earthquakes.

Turkey has faced 15 major earthquakes since 1939 -- the deadliest was a 7.6-magnitude quake in 1999 that hit the northwestern city of Izmit killing at least 17,000 and leaving nearly 50,000 injured.

“We can exchange this experience and share our knowledge and skills with each other,” he said.

Chowdhury met several high officials of Turkish aid agencies including the Turkish Red Crescent, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

Meeting aid officials

He also met with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag in Ankara.

“Turkey has faced two large earthquakes in recent years and they tackled it well,” he added.

He said that previously, Bangladesh was not a quake-risk country, but some small quakes in recent years indicated that now it was at risk.

Earthquakes cannot be prevented, but damage can be reduced by adopting safety measures, Chowdhury said.

He said that during his meetings Turkish institutes had shown a keen interest to work with Bangladesh, and though nothing had been put on paper, they were negotiating ways to move forward.

“For starters,” he said, “we can send our team to be trained in Turkey. Some Turkish experts can visit Turkey.”

Speaking about the Rohingya crisis, Chowdhury said, Turkey is one of the biggest supplier of humanitarian assistance to the refugees seeking shelter in Bangladesh.

Refugee crisis

He praised a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province that he had visited.

“The camp provided accommodation to 26,000 people. Facilities such as education and healthcare are provided at the camp,” he said, adding that his government welcomed Turkey’s proposal to replicate the model in Bangladesh.

A crackdown launched on Aug. 25 has seen more that 620,000 Rohingya cross from Myanmar's western Rakhine state into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation that has seen security forces and Buddhist mobs kill men, women and children, loot homes and torch Rohingya villages.

Bangladesh and Myanmar had signed a deal on repatriation of Rohingya earlier this month. However, Chowdhury, said several points in the deal were currently being negotiated by both countries.

Speaking about Bangladesh-Turkey relations he said: “We always had good relations with Turkey. But following Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan's visit to refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar that brought the Rohingya issue to international agenda, relations between the two countries have gained momentum.”

He added that Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim was expected to visit Bangladesh in the upcoming weeks and discuss bilateral relations with his Bangladeshi counterpart in Dhaka, where an agreement could be signed.