News Archive

Mutual Trust Bank PLC in collaboration with Footsteps provides Disaster Resilience Bags to Families affected by Cyclone Remal

Mutual Trust Bank PLC (MTB) has partnered with Footsteps, a next-generation organization, together in an initiative to minimize the loss and damage of low-income households in cyclone-prone coastal Bangladesh through the organization’s Disaster Resilience Bags. On 13th June 2024, 100 families living in disaster-prone zones were provided with Disaster Resilience Bags in Barguna Sadar Upazila, an area that has been devastated by the impact of Cyclone Remal recently.
The Disaster Resilience Bag, designed and customized by Footsteps, is both waterproof and floatable on waterbodies, allowing people to store and protect valuable items such as cash, documents, clothing, electronics, and other personal belongings. The bag also includes survival items such as lifejackets, raincoats, torches as well as disaster guidelines with specific plans of action before, during, and after a flood or cyclone event. During natural disaster events, people are often able to escape areas hit directly by events such as cyclones or floods but often return to their homes and possessions destroyed and damaged. The Disaster Resilience Bag allows a family to store their valuable belongings and flee during disasters with their belongings protected in the bag, minimizing loss and damage and protecting their livelihoods in events of natural disasters. The initiative is being supported by Mutual Trust Bank, which is part of its Climate risk fund to enhance innovative solutions and programs addressing Climate Change in Bangladesh.
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, MD & CEO of MTB said “Being a responsible financial institution, we always consider creating impact and try to make meaningful change to the community in which we operate. We are committed to sustainability and strive to make a positive impact on society by addressing critical issues like climate change. Footsteps and Mutual Trust Bank PLC aim to work together in implementing solutions to build climate resilience in vulnerable communities across Bangladesh.
“The Disaster Resilience Bag has been designed to allow families to run away with their prized possessions in the bag during cyclones, floods and storms. We are creating solutions which not only protect lives but also their livelihoods in the face of natural disasters” says Shah Rafayat Chowdhury, Co-Founder and President of Footsteps.
“After a disaster, the only initiative we get to see is emergency aid and food distribution programs by various NGOs in our communities. The initiative that Footsteps and Mutual Trust Bank took here is something very different and important in building our resilience to natural disasters’ said Md. Shamim Mia, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Barguna.

« Back to News