UN announces $5m fund for BD flood victims

FE Team | Published: July 15, 2022 23:49:53

The United Nations (UN) has announced an additional allocation of $5 million as relief to meet the immediate needs of families caught in the deadly flooding in northeastern Bangladesh, reports UNB.
After a coordinated appeal by the UN country team in Bangladesh, Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, made the announcement, said the UN office in Dhaka on Thursday.
This brings the current funding of the Humanitarian Response Plan to $12 million (Tk112 crore), around 20 per cent of the necessary $58.4 million that were identified.
Over 7.2 million people have been affected by recent floods in the northeast of the country and over half of those affected need humanitarian assistance.
The funding comes from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which aims to kick-start relief efforts in a coordinated and prioritised manner when a new crisis emerges.
The focus of the CERF rapid response request is the provision of high-impact immediate life-saving assistance to those most impacted and most vulnerable households.
UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis said: "The scale of the floods is more dramatic than any that have been experienced in recent memory. Many families have literally lost everything they own."
"Many are still living in shelters. The floodwaters are receding very slowly and their homes are completely destroyed. There is an urgent need to scale up our support to the government's emergency response."
The Humanitarian Response Plan prioritises life-saving assistance, including emergency food security assistance, water and sanitation interventions and protection interventions targeting women and girls.
The UN is supporting the government and delivering food assistance, drinking water, cash, emergency drugs, water purification tablets, and hygiene kits to the affected families and education support.