Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday called upon the countrymen to combat natural disasters with courage and vowed to protect them from such calamities in future too.

The prime minister said, ‘We must take such steps so that the people of the country are not affected by the natural calamities in future.’

Sheikh Hasina was addressing the inaugural function of the International Day for Disaster Reduction at Osmani Memorial Hall in Dhaka in the morning.

The Disaster Management and Relief Ministry organized the event, where Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the ministry Dhirendra Devnath Shambhu were present as the special guests.

Secretary of the ministry Mohammad Shah Kamal presided over the function, while Director General of the Directorate of Disaster Management Mohammad Riaz Ahmed delivered the welcome address.

Shahidul Alam, an inhabitant of Bashkhali area of Chittagong, the most affected area of ‘Cyclone Roanu’ that hit in Bangladesh in May last, and Masuda Begum, a resident of Fulchhari of Gaibandha, the most affected area in recent flood, shared their experiences about disasters.

Ministers, advisers to the Prime Minister, diplomats, high civil and military officials, scouts, Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel and volunteers were present at the function.

This year’s theme of the International Day for Disaster Reduction is ‘Live to Tell’. However, Bangladesh has fixed its own theme ‘Tell Strategies to Reduce Disaster’ keeping consistency with the international theme.

Earlier, Sheikh Hasina digitally inaugurated 100 cyclone shelter centres and 53 flood shelter centres across the country which the people of concerned areas witnessed live on Bangladesh Television.