Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The United Nations (UN) System has extended its support to 14,000 cyclone Aila affected families still living on embankments in Bangladesh.
Drawing assistance from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the UN agencies will work to distribute food, assist with shelter and implement basic Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and nutrition interventions.
The initiative is aimed at reducing the vulnerability of people during monsoon season and help them to improve their temporary dwellings to complement the Government’s on-going response efforts to cyclone Aila affected families in Dacope and Koyra Upazilas and Shyamnagar and Ashashuni Upazilas, under Khulna and Satkhira districts respectively.
A recent Joint UN Multi-Sector Assessment found that around 14,000 Aila affected families were still living on the embankments in these two districts, a UN statement said on Thursday.
Following the assessment, a review meeting on the current Aila situation was held at the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management and chaired by the Minister, Abdur Razzaque MP.
In response to the minister’s call to supplement the Government initiatives, the UN System (WFP, UNDP and UNICEF) in collaboration with DFID pledged to support the Aila victims immediately. The Joint UN Response to Cyclone Aila has a proposed budget of US$ 4.6 million (around BDT 322 million).
BBN/SI/AD-26Aug10-3:35 pm (BST)
