Financed by European Commission, SWMC carried out the geodetic survey along the coastal areas of Bangladesh in 1996. The survey was conducted to establish a standard land level to be subsequently related to a common datum of Public Works Department (PWD). The levels were required to identify the High Risk Areas (HRA), the areas which undergo more than one meter on inundation during cyclonic surges. This survey is a part of the Cyclone Shelter Preparatory Study, aims at providing life saving protection for the population and upgrading the disaster preparedness and management systems in high risk areas around the coastal belt.

A number of geodetic control points (both horizontal and vertical) were established which was for the requirements of the project. Numerous tidegauges were also conducted with vertical levels. The latest technology in the GPS, namely static and RTK-GPS surveys were applied to achieve the above results, which was subsequently used in the one and two dimensional modelling in SWMC to define the High Risk Areas.