Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The World Bank (WB) provided Bangladesh $324 million in the past five years to help the country build long-term disaster preparedness besides improving the lives and livelihoods of the coastal people badly affected by Sidr and Aila.
A WB press statement said on Tuesday that it contributed $324 million to the Emergency Cyclone Recovery and Restoration Project (ECRRP) that started in December 2008.
In addition to WB financing, the project also received contributions from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (US$2.96 million), Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (US$25 million), and KfW (Euro 3.82 million). The total available funds for this project are now US$356.9 million.
The impacts of the project on the beneficiaries in the targeted area and the quality of agricultural technology interventions in the context of restoration of their livelihoods and building resilience are encouraging.
According to a recent survey, there has been 36% reduction in poverty incidence (14% of households in the project intervention area are now below poverty threshold vis-à-vis 50% during a baseline survey in 2010) in the affected area.
The project has so far rehabilitated and improved 240 cyclone shelters in coastal area that are now being used as schools or for other community purposes. These shelters are equipped with water supply, sanitation and electricity facilities.
The project has also completed construction of another 42 new multi-purpose cyclone shelters. The project also supports building polders and rehabilitation of embankments as a means of increasing security to at risk livelihoods. So far, 260 kms of embankments are repaired, along with sluices in the polders.
The project is also supporting the preparation and implementation of the first phase of a 15-year government program for disaster risk reduction. The total fund available for this project includes recent World Bank approval of US$140 million additional finance to support scaling up the construction and rehabilitation of critical infrastructures in the coastal areas.
BBN/SSR/AD-11Mar14-9:17 pm (BST)