The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is appealing for 24.5 million Swiss francs (US $22.2 million/euro 15 million) to provide long-term support for more than 1.2 million people affected by Cyclone Sidr.
The funds will be used to provide affected individuals and families in nine districts with a well planned combination of immediate relief, shelter, health, water and sanitation and early recovery assistance, as well as support for future capacity building and disaster risk reduction. The relief component, the most urgent one, aims to address the immediate needs of the affected population by providing shelter materials, food, clothes, clean water and basic health care.
The capacity building and disaster risk reduction component will support strengthening the capacity of the national society and affected communities in the longer term to prepare for and respond to future disasters. This is a key role for the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, whose Cyclone Preparedness Programme saved lives during Cyclone Sidr. It is important that this role and programme are strengthened in the future.
The provision of safe shelter, with nearly 500,000 homes having been destroyed, will be a major component of both immediate and longer term efforts. The International Federation serves as the lead agency for shelter support with the UN shelter cluster.
“With winter fast approaching, the families whose homes have been lost desperately need materials and technical support to make basic shelters for themselves and their belongings,” said Graham Saunders, Head of the Shelter Department at the International Federation. “We specialize in working with displaced families to utilize locally available materials, even materials from homes that were destroyed, to help them build improved shelter that makes sense for them and that is more resilient in the future,” Saunders continued.
The latest figures indicate that the death toll from the Cyclone Sidr disaster has risen to 2,997, with over 34,508 injured and more than 1,700 people still listed as missing. Other official figures show that the disaster affected some six million people and completely destroyed as many as 500,000 houses in 30 districts in the southwest of Bangladesh. The cyclone also reportedly caused the contamination of many drinking water sources, killed thousands of livestock and destroyed an estimated 1.7 million acres of crops.
Since the storm hit, more than 10,000 family kits were distributed, along with 5,100 plastic sheets, and 20,000 emergency food packs. 18 mobile medical teams provided emergency first aid and primary health care. More than 100,000 water purification tablets and tens of thousands of oral rehydration salt packs have also been provided to affected households. More services and supplies are being delivered daily.
A preliminary appeal requesting 4 million Swiss francs ($3.6 million US/ euro2.4 million) was issued on November 16 and is now incorporated into this more comprehensive appeal.