DHAKA, May 17, 2026, (BSS) – Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has taken an initiative to introduce toll-free SMS (short message service) to reach flood forecast to the people living in the country’s flood-prone areas.
 
“Works are underway to disseminate flood messages through toll-free SMS…we have already sent a letter to Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) to this end,” Partho Protim Barua, sub-divisional engineer at BWDB’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC), told BSS.
  
Many people living in remote flood-prone areas do not use smart phones and they do not have access to interest. So, the BWDB has taken the measure to introduce toll-free SMS containing flood related messages.
  
Partho Protim said there is an issue of signing agreements with mobile phone operators before introducing the SMS service, so talks continue with the mobile phone operators in this regard. 
  
“If flood forecasting could be sent through SMS, it would be possible to reach flood message to the marginal people, who live in flood-hit areas, through the mobile phone operators. And this will help them take preparations and minimise their flood consequences,” he added.
  
On October 25 in 2021, the BWDB launched the digital flood forecasting system officially to mitigate disaster aftermath, which brought a new dimension in the country’s flood forecasting as it warns the local people living in flood-prone areas through ‘push notifications’ three days to three hours before any flood hits.
  
The BWDB, a2i, tech-giant Google, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies jointly developed the system.
  
Officials at the FFWC said the digital flood forecasting system was initiated in Brahmaputra and Padma catchments in 14 districts on pilot basis in June 2020 and it is now functional in 55 districts of the country.
  
Partho Protim said the FFWC is currently monitoring flood situation through 127 stations and forecasting advance flood warnings in 55 stations.
 
 He said the digital flood forecasting system is now able to send SMS notifications to the people living in flood risk zones via their android mobile phones between three days and three hours before the onset of any flood, depending on the system’s predictive capacity.
  
The BWBD has available data on flood. It sends these data to Google. The tech-giant improved flood mapping using its topographical data and sends ‘push flood notifications’ to the people living in vulnerable areas.
  
With technical support from Google, now it becomes possible to send flood information and forecasting to all the stations through the digital flood forecasting system. Flood related warnings are now being available in Google Map and Google Feed too, according to BWDB officials.
  
In addition, the BWDB, a2i, Google, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies took a joint collaboration to reach the flood warnings and information at the doorsteps of marginal people living in flood-prone areas within quickest possible time.
  
Flood is a common phenomenon in Bangladesh. Every year, floods hit different parts of the country, causing a huge loss to lives and properties.
  
The floods caused devastation in Bangladesh throughout history, especially in 1951, 1987, 1988 and 1998. The 2007 South Asian floods also affected a large portion of Bangladesh.
  
But, the Bangladesh government has already taken infrastructural and non-infrastructural measures to mitigate and manage floods, which have been lauded around the world.