Flood situation improving gradually
South Asia blog Monday, 3 September 2007
The situation in Bangladesh has slowly begun to improve, with no further flooding expected in the northern and central parts of the country. Around the eastern part of Dhaka City it is expected that the waters will completely recede within the next two or three days. However, the situation for the many millions affected by the flood remains very serious.
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A total of 16 million people have been badly affected by the floods. Since 30 July there have been over 700 fatalities. Over 89,000 homes have been completely destroyed, and a further 650,000 homes have been partially destroyed. There has been a huge amount of damage to crops, schools and roads, while incidences of diarrhoea and eye infections both remain high.
Many international and national NGOs continue to be involved in distributing relief. Despite the efforts by so many organisations and the government, it is still proving difficult to ensure that all affected families, especially the poor, are adequately reached and supported.
Concern’s response
Concern’s response has been to get immediate help to as many of the affected families as it can. A relief response has just been completed which reached 24,500 families. These families received a food ration for 15 days consisting of 30 kg rice, three kg of pulses, two litres of oil, one kilo of salt and ten packets of soya protein biscuits. Also included were five packets of oral rehydration salts, an effective treatment for diarrhoea-related dehydration in children.
Concern has also distributed high energy biscuits to a further 14,000 families in four districts. Each family received three kg of biscuits as a supplementary food source for four days. Concern and its partner agencies plan to support a further 31,000 families with food and non-food relief for 15 days.
