Brussels, 02/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Vulnerable populations in Bangladesh, severely affected by floods last year, are to receive a further €4 million in emergency humanitarian aid, the European Commission decided on Tuesday 2 October.
The funding, from the ECHO budget (European Commission office for humanitarian aid and civil protection) will be allocated to Chittagong, Bandarban and Cox's Bazar, three districts of the south-east of the country that experienced particularly heavy rainfall early July, provoking the worst flooding and landslides in 60 years in the region. The additional aid will finance cash transfer programmes designed to help victims meet their basic humanitarian needs and kick-start their ability to support themselves, whilst simultaneously enabling the restoration of houses and productive community infrastructure. Disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness components are being integrated into these projects in order to seek to increase the resilience of the communities concerned to the impact of future natural disasters.
“Many of the people affected by these floods were already in a very fragile situation and have therefore not been able to compensate the losses incurred or regain a dignified way of living since the disaster struck. After their crops have been destroyed by the monsoon floods, some families are barely able to afford a single meal a day”, states Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, in a press release. She goes on to say: “We have been monitoring this crisis throughout, and after extending support through our Small Scale Response mechanisms over the last months, we are now boosting our aid to help these most vulnerable communities get back on their feet”.
Aid will be delivered by ECHO partners on the ground (United Nations, Red Cross/Red Crescent and international NGOs). The population of the three districts still benefits from food/nutrition aid, as well as from programmes for the rehabilitation of health and hygiene equipment, the repair of homes and rapid recovery of means of subsistence.
The new funding will bring to €18.65 million the humanitarian effort made this year by the Commission in favour of the victims of floods and landslides in the wake of the violent monsoon in Bangladesh. Over 250,000 victims will benefit from the aid, including women, children, the old and elderly, disabled and marginalised persons. (AN/transl.jl)