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EU Pledges Additional Aid For Bangladesh Flood Victims

235 days ago

(RTTNews) - The European Union on Monday pledged an additional funding of EUR 4 million to ensure continued emergency assistance to the people of Bangladesh affected by the monsoon floods and landslides in the country's south-east in June-July 2012.

According to an EU statement, the aid is for more than 250,000 Bangladeshi flood victims, with a particular emphasis on the most vulnerable, including women, children, the elderly, the disabled and the marginalized.

EU-funded relief efforts will target Bangladesh's three South-eastern districts of Chittagong, Bandarban and Cox's Bazar, where people continue to benefit from food and nutritional assistance, restoration of hygiene and sanitation facilities, shelter repair and early livelihood recovery programs.

The aid is being delivered through cash transfer programs designed to help victims meet their basic humanitarian needs and kick-start their ability to support themselves, while enabling the restoration of houses and productive community infrastructure.

The statement said disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness components are also being integrated into these projects in order to try to increase the resilience of these communities to the impact of future natural disasters.

The delivery of aid funded by the European Commission department is being channeled through its humanitarian partners including U.N. agencies, the Red Cross/Red Crescent family and international non-government organizations.

The EUR 4 million aid brings EU's total humanitarian contribution for Bangladesh in 2012 to EUR 18.65 million, the statement added.

The three south-eastern districts of Chittagong, Bandarban and Cox's Bazar had experienced particularly heavy rainfall in early July, triggering the worst flooding and landslides seen in the region for more than 60 years.

It is estimated that 122 people were killed in the flooding, with a further 1.3 million affected. Most of the families displaced by the floods have since returned to their damaged houses, but many are still staying with friends and relatives.

As most of the flood-hit had been making a meagre living before the floods struck, many of them do not have the necessary finances to rebuild their houses. Most of them are left with few options, other than adopting detrimental coping mechanisms such as reducing the number of meals, depleting their assets or borrowing from money-lenders.

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