The country is one of the worst sufferers of all cyclonic casualties in the world. Its geographic location is the biggest contributing factor for the proneness to disasters. Due to the funnel shaped coast, Bangladesh often becomes the landing ground and breeding place of catastrophic cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal. The high number of casualties is due to the fact that cyclones are always associated with storm surges. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) is being a joint venture with the Government of Bangladesh, The CPP is an organic component of the nation’s institutional early warning system as clearly defined in the “Standing Order on Disasters”. The BDRCS CPP program is the most successful and an effective model program of its kind in the South-East Asian region. CPP is an effective, grass-root oriented, disciplined and tightly knits organization which is dedicated to the task of protecting the population along with community capacity build up activities. This programme based on the voluntary service of community people and their technical skills and commitment to ensure sufficient warning dissemination, shelter management, search & rescue and first aid services enabling them to cope with the approaching cyclone. This study has been

Vol. 2 No. 2 December 2009 u 15

carried out to find the communities perspective about the volunteers performance in time of disaster event.
Keywords: Preparedness, warning dissemination, rescue, first aid, risk reduction.

Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Its geographic location is the biggest contributing factor for the proneness to disasters. Due to the funnel shaped coast, Bangladesh often becomes the landing ground and breeding place of catastrophic cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal. An average of 1-3 severe to moderate cyclonic storms hit