As floodwater recedes from most parts of Bangladesh and tough challenges such as scarcity of drinking water and sanitation, and risks of spreading of water-borne and other diseases emerge, BRAC allocates BDT 3.5 crore to fund post-flood relief and rehabilitation efforts. This is an addition to the BDT 50 lac that BRAC had already allocated for the emergency flood response in July.
The fresh allocation comprises a grant of USD 300,000 (roughly equal to BDT 2.5 crore) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that BRAC received recently to provide emergency humanitarian aid to people affected by flood in Bangladesh. The remaining BDT 1 crore is pulled from BRAC’s internal sources.
This fund is being spent to provide for multi-purpose cash transfers of BDT 4,500 per household and distributing hygiene kits to help more than 6,000 flood-affected households in four of the worst affected Upazilas: Dewanganj in Jamalpur district, Chowhali in Sirajganj district, Sadar Upazila in Gaibandha district, and Chilmari of Kurigram district.
With the cash, the recipients will be able to meet immediate needs such as purchasing food, safe drinking water, educational materials, livestock fodder and reducing health risks such as diarrhoeal, skin and eye diseases, and repairing damaged houses. BRAC is spending one part of the allocation to repair school buildings, donate boats to school children, and deploy teams of health workers in some of the remote areas.
“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation extends its deep sympathy to the victims of the devastating floods in Bangladesh,” said Mark Suzman, Chief Strategy Officer and President, Global Policy and Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We are providing this emergency grant to bolster recovery efforts, such as helping to prevent the outbreak of water-borne diseases and other severe health risks associated with flooding.”
BRAC launched a coordinated relief effort in mid-July, less than a week after floodwater started inundating the low-lying districts in the north of the country. More than a thousand relief workers, including those from BRAC’s Upazila Disaster Management Teams (UDMTs), were rapidly deployed, with initial efforts reaching over 14,000 households in 36 of the most impacted Upazilas in 13 districts until 8 August, 2019 with food and cash packages, safe drinking water, as well as the installation of toilets, tube wells, and bathing cubicles.
“Post-flood rehabilitation is no less challenging than during-flood operations, considering the shortage of work, drinking water, and disease outbreaks. Another big challenge is to cover those who were left out in the first phase. As this year’s flood is already labeled as one of the worst in recent years, everyone with the means must come forward to join the relief efforts,” said Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC Bangladesh.
The new allocation will help expand the response to cover those households that are led by women and have elderly, pregnant, or disabled family members, or who have lost all assets. Priority is being given to the Upazilas that have experienced extremely severe flooding, feature a high proportion of affected households, or have not received adequate levels of aid already. The BRAC Humanitarian Programme (BHP) has been closely monitoring the situation and coordinating all the efforts with the local government and administrative offices, and other relevant stakeholders.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed to disaster response in Bangladesh through BRAC several times in the last 12 years starting with Cyclone Sidr operations in 2007.
