Flood early warning (FEW) is a vital component of disaster risk management and is particularly important for saving lives, developing a sustainable agro-based economy, economic stability, and the overall development of the people of Bangladesh as well as others. This study was conducted in a northern, flood-prone area of Bangladesh to investigate the potential of incorporating volunteers of the community to the Union Councils (UCs) to disseminate FEW alongside the top-down approach. Several studies have found that despite having a sophisticated flood forecasting technology, local communities are not reaping the benefits of it, as the existing dissemination system is inaccessible to most local people. Since risk communication takes place in a social context, this study investigated and thereby proposed that volunteerism, as a form of social capital or communal virtue, can potentially assist the community-based disaster management (CBDM) institutions in enhancing their capacity to reach the maximum population at times of flood risk. Therefore, it was confirmed that the trained volunteers need to be integrated into and endorsed by the national policy. In addition, this study also provides a number of recommendations connecting literature with policy documents of Bangladesh.

Department of Accident and Trauma Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz College Emergency Medical Services King Saud University Riyadh 11451 Saudi Arabia

Department of Agroecology and Crop Production Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 Suchdol 16500 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Emergency Medical Services Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz College Emergency Medical Services King Saud University Riyadh 11451 Saudi Arabia

Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute School of Arts Languages and Cultures University of Manchester Manchester M13 9PL UK

Ministry of Public Administration Dhaka 1000 Bangladesh

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