Monday, September 24, 2007

Bangladesh Flood Response Update

20th September 2007 (numbers updated from 16th September)


A girl swims through floodwaters with an empty vessel to collect drinking water in Dhaka's low-lying area. Photo: Shawkat Khan• Though it was forecast that the capital, Dhaka would not be hit by the second phase of floods, rivers around the capital are flowing anew above the danger mark, inundating the city’s low-lying areas, causing thousands to take shelter again in government institutions.
• The flood situation in most of the northern districts have improved while flood waters are gradually receding in the north-eastern, central and south-central districts
• The floods have affected over 12 million people of 43 districts and hundreds of thousands of people had taken shelter. With the receding floods, people are returning home and there are currently over 61,500 people in 167 shelters, while there are thousands of others on embankments and roads.
• The death toll from diarrhoea, drowning, snakebite and respiratory diseases had reached 970 since flooding began in July.
• The damage to homes, educational institutions, roads, embankments, bridges and culverts have been massive
• Recently replanted paddy crop, seed beds and vegetables on vast expanse of land have been destroyed by the flood water. Erosion has washed away large chunks of the land of many villages, even total villages.

Forecast

• According to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) the rivers around the capital will continue to rise in the next 3 days.
• The water levels in the Ganges-Padma and Brahmaputra-Jamuna rivers is receding and is likely to continue this trend over the next 24-72 hours.

Narrative

Country Level Update (numbers updated from 16th September)

Since Thursday 6th September floods started afresh and these have compounded the damage caused by the August floods. The flood waters are much stronger, sweeping away and damaging everything in its path. The floods have affected over 12 million people of 43 districts and hundreds of thousands of people had taken shelter. With the receding floods, people are returning home and there are currently over 61,500 people in 167 shelters, while there are thousands of others on embankments and roads. The health services directorate general said death toll from diarrhoea, drowning, snakebite and respiratory diseases had reached 970 since flooding began in July.

Though it was forecast that the capital, Dhaka would not be hit by the second phase of floods, rivers around the capital are flowing anew above the danger mark, inundating the city’s low-lying areas, causing thousands to take shelter again in government institutions. According to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) the rivers around the capital will continue to rise in the next 3 days.

The water level in the Ganges-Padma and Brahmaputra-Jamuna rivers are receding and this is likely to continue this trend over the next 24-72 hours. The flood situation in most of the northern districts have improved while flood waters are gradually receding in the north-eastern, central and south-central districts

After the August flood waters had receded many farmers started to replant their fields however, with the September floods all of this has been for nothing. The transplanted paddy crop, seed beds and vegetables on vast expanse of land have been inundated by the flood water. This erosion has been even more serious washing away whole villages especially in the northern districts. The destruction to infrastructure has been severe.

Emergency Interventions

Concern Worldwide Response

Concern Worldwide with its partner organisations conducted search and rescue operations and rescued 451 families from the chars and eroding riverbanks during the second phase of floods. The flood affected families were rescued with as much of their belongings as possible.

Concern Worldwide completed its previously planned relief operations on 17th September for 31,000 families in 10 of the most severely affected districts hit by floods which have devastated parts of Bangladesh last month. The districts are Kurigram, Sirajgonj, Gaibandha, Bogra, Manigonj, Faridpur, Shariatpur, Jamalpur, Sherpur and Rajbari. Extremely poor families – many of whom have lost what little assets they own, have been given special focus as recipients for relief packages. The relief packages consist of both food and non-food items. The relief package for each family include: 30 kg rice, 3 kg lentils (pulse), 2 litres vegetable oil, 1 kg salt, 10 packets of soya protein biscuits, 5 ORS packets and 3 pieces of soap. This operation was funded by the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO).

Another phase of relief distribution (funded by Concern Worldwide) targeting 24,500 families in the 8 districts of Tangail, Nilphamari, Sirajgonj, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Rajbari, districts was carried out between 9th and 23rd August.

Previously Concern completed a relief response to an initial 11,000 families in Sirajganj, Manikganj and Faridpur between 31st July and 9th August funded by Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA). 41.76 tons of High Energy Biscuits supplied by World Food Programme (WFP) and targeted specifically at children were distributed to 13,917 families in Faridpur, Rajbari, Shariatpur and Magura during 12-15 August.

For emergency response, Concern continues to contact different donors to ensure adequate resources to implement its overall emergency response plan. The funding received so far are from: ECHO (€500,000), Irish Aid (€441,000); JOA (about €34,000) and Credit Union (€10,000). Concern Worldwide headquarter has also launched a flood appeal to raise money to support the flood victims.

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