Stand-up for the Flood Victims in Bangladesh

Report on Friendship’s Initiatives

Executive Summary

This report describes the initiatives Friendship has implemented as part of an emergency response to the flood occurred in August, 2017. Situation Report dated 20 August 2017, by Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR), Bangladesh has been summed up with the following table which reflects the impacts of this devastating flood that hit the northern parts of Bangladesh:

• People died - 114
• People affected - 6.9 million
• Districts affected - 31
• Crops fully damaged - 582,091 ha
• Crops partially damaged - 15529 ha
• Roads totally or partially damaged - 6,610 km
• Embankments fully or partially damaged - 96 km 
• Bridges/culverts destroyed - 446
• Houses fully damaged - 77,272
• Houses partially damaged - 524,374
• Primary schools or community schools damaged - 2,292

Flood impacts in Friendship’s working areas - Kurigram and Gaibandha districts - deteriorated rapidly since its beginning on August 12, 2017 with heavy incessant rainfall leading to rise the water level of major rivers beyond their pre-established danger level. Flood Impact Assessment conducted by the Friendship Field Team reflects the following losses and damages:

• 72,131 households affected where women, children and elderly people were at risk
• 20,376 acres of crop lands submerged
• 7, 117 tube-wells damaged
• 10,434 latrines damaged
• 1,092 cattle died
• 61 schools partially and fully damaged
• 35 legal booths partially and fully damaged
• 7 Vocational Training Centers (VCTs) partially and fully damaged
• 567 houses partially damaged while 56,163 houses fully damaged

Friendship’s Response

With the assistance of ERIKS Development Partner, SMC/SIDA, Friendship Luxembourg (FLux), Friendship France, Friendship Holland, Carrefour, Sunbeams School and individual donors, Friendship has been able to extend immediate humanitarian assistance (mentioned below) to the flood affected areas:

• 278 families (228 men, 245 women, 104 boys and 113 girls) and 270 cattle rescued
• People assisted to dismantle the houses and schools to avoid damages by erosion, and emergency boats provided for shifting the housing materials
• 760 people, 258 cattle and 568 poultries sheltered on Friendship’s 6 plinths, while 781 people sheltered in 12 Friendship’s schools
• 30 temporary water points installed to ensure access to safe drinking water, while 50 temporary latrines installed to ensure appropriate sanitation
• Emergency dry food distributed to 1,500 families
• 83 emergency health camps organized where 9,056 people advantaged with healthcare and medicines reducing the spread of water and vector borne diseases
• Food relief distributed to 12,000 households where special assistance extended to pregnant women, elderly and disable people for carrying relief materials
• Nutrition support provided to 400 children and 100 pregnant and lactating mothers for 20 days
• 50 tube-wells to be installed, and tool boxes for repairing and maintenance to be distributed to the communities
• 50 sanitary latrines to be installed 
• 70 damaged tube-wells or water points and 75 damaged latrines to be repaired and reconstructed
• 26 Friendship schools repaired, and repairs 30 schools and reconstruction of 5 schools to be completed by November, 2017
• 32 damaged legal booths repaired, and 3 booths to be shifted to another places by the middle of October, 2017
• Repairs and reconstruction of 7 partially and fully damaged vocational training centers in progress

Friendship has successfully responded the flood situation to bring the normalcy into the lives of the flood affected communities of selected areas through providing rescue support, healthcare services, clean water, sanitation and food materials. Friendship has maintained transparency and accuracy in procurement, beneficiary selection and distribution of components. Repairs and reconstruction of damaged Friendship schools, legal booths and vocational training centers are underway with small scales, and concerns remain for strengthening these structures for future disasters through raising schools plinths and installing relevant logistics. Through the assessment, the urgency of repairing and reconstructing houses have appeared among the affected people. As half millions of people have been the victims of river erosion, construction of plinths to home the homeless families with basic human needs and provision of sheltering people in emergency situation with livestock and poultry can be one of the possible solutions to get prepared for responding to future floods. Water and sanitation supports are required for ensuring access to safe drinking water and proper hygiene. Creating alternative livelihood sources and meeting the nutritional demands of the affected families can be possible through distributing vegetable seeds, fingerlings, poultry and livestock components.

Links:

• https://friendship.ngo/floods-bangladesh/

• Friendship Emergency Response to Flood 2017 Report (DOCX)