ADRA Assists 9,000 Families After Flooding in Bangladesh

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency has provided emergency assistance to 9,000 families in Bangladesh amid monsoon floods that have killed at least 14 people and affected nearly 2 million others.

The disaster has affected an estimated 1.9 million people across 19 districts of Bangladesh, and about 7,400 people have sought assistance in 69 relief camps, the International Red Cross said this week.

More than 15,000 homes have been washed away by the flooding, the country’s worst in at least decade, local media reported.

“The sources of livelihood have been swept away, and the affected communities have no source of income to meet their basic needs,” ADRA’s Bangladesh office said on Facebook.

ADRA focused its initial relief efforts on southern Bangladesh. ADRA’s China office provided funds from the Hong Kong government to purchase food and other necessities, while ADRA employees and volunteers worked with local authorities and other nongovernmental organizations to identify beneficiaries.

Over the course of three days, ADRA distributed relief supplies to 9,000 families in Chittagong, Patuakhali, and Barguna in southern Bangladesh.

“ADRA Bangladesh selected the beneficiaries regardless of race, religion, ethnic background, creed, or political affiliation,” it said.

Each household received six pieces of clothes washing soap, four pieces of bath soap, a tube of toothpaste, a towel, 90 water purification tablets, a 20-liter bucket, a comb, 10 packets of shampoo, a large bandage roll, a 10-liter container of water, 15 kilograms of rice, 4 kilograms of lentils, 2 liters of oil, and 1 kilogram of salt.