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| Aid agencies warn of housing crisis as Bangladesh cyclone victims enter monsoon season 14 April 2008 Five months after Cyclone Sidr killed 4,000 people and destroyed nearly 1.5 million homes, millions of Bangladeshis remain in dire need of housing assistance. With only weeks to go before the start of the annual monsoon rains, hundreds of thousands of families are still living under plastic sheeting, tarpaulins and other basic shelters which leave them at the mercy of the elements. Aid agencies taking part in the country’s shelter coordination group have warned that the scale of the destruction is simply too massive for them to provide meaningful assistance to all of those in need. The cyclone and the subsequent storm surge have damaged or destroyed nearly four times as many homes as were affected by the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. “The combined efforts of all aid agencies as well as bilateral government pledges for core housing are likely to reach around 60,000 affected families. But this is only a fraction of those who need help,” said Graham Saunders, head of shelter for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, speaking on behalf of the global Emergency Shelter Cluster and the operational shelter agencies in Bangladesh. “More than 260,000 extremely vulnerable families are currently not getting any assistance to rebuild their homes. Assessments indicate that these families have very limited means of coping on their own, and there are simply not sufficient programmes in the pipeline to help them,” he said. Aid agencies are urging the Bangladeshi government and the international community to implement a comprehensive plan for ensuring affected families have safe and adequate shelter. With time running out before the start of the rains, the agencies are also recommending the launch of a major awareness raising campaign on safer building techniques. “While the neediest families are entirely dependent on assistance, others are coping a bit better. Of the 1.5 million affected families, we estimate that more than a million are starting to rebuild their homes – but not all of them are building back safer,” said Heather Blackwell of Oxfam, one of the operational agencies involved in the shelter coordination group. “Some of the current building techniques are outright dangerous and could cause injuries once the winds and rains arrive. We need to make sure that people are aware of simple and practical techniques that make their homes more resistant to storms, floods and cyclones.” “The monsoon season is approaching and a broad range of activities needs to be undertaken now by the Government and the international community” added Nick Southern, country director for Care. “And we’re not just talking about shelter- without a roof over their heads people are also exposed to serious health and hygiene risks. The situation is deeply worrying.” For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact: Matthew Cochrane, media officer (in Geneva) Tel: + 41 79 308 9804 Nabiha Chowdury, information officer (in Dhaka) Tel: + 88 017 130 80141 Devendra Tak, regional communications manager (in Delhi) Tel: +91-9810393178 Media service duty phone (Geneva) Tel: + 41 79 416 3881 Notes to editors: Government reports put the number of families whose houses were damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Sidr at 1,470,419.A joint early recovery assessment by the government and the United Nations estimates that around 75 per cent of affected people (or 1,143,457 households) are beginning to rebuild on their own. There is a consensus that the remaining 326,962 households are unable to rebuild without external assistance. Current plans for aid agency and bilateral government responses aim to reach around 60,000 needy families. More than 260,000 of the neediest families are not receiving any transitional shelter assistance. The total number of homes damaged by the cyclone is four times the number of homes affected by the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. The 8 October earthquake left around 400,000 rural homes damaged or destroyed (Source: Rural and Relief Shelter: Issues Paper, 30 August 2006, endorsed by 24 aid agencies representing NGOs and the United Nations system) The Emergency Shelter Cluster, one of eleven technical clusters/sectors, is the interagency coordination mechanism established by the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) in 2005 to improve preparedness and predictability in humanitarian response (see www.humanitarianreform.org). The Geneva-based International Federation promotes the humanitarian activities of 186 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies among vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief and encouraging development support, it seeks to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The Federation, National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together, constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. © International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies |
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