Practical Action beneficiaries support flood relief efforts in South Asia

Bangladeshi farmers who benefitted from the Pumpkins Against Poverty project have donated part of their harvest to victims of the country’s devastating floods.

They have joined with staff from Practical Action to protect communities and rebuild lives after more than 50 people were killed and 8,000 homes destroyed in the past fortnight. A total of 600,000 people have been affected and are threatened by dysentery and diarrhoea.

More than 500 pumpkins were given to flood victims by communities who worked with Practical Action to transform flood plains into pumpkin fields before this year’s monsoon.

Many communities Practical Action works with in the Sirajganj, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Gaibandha districts have been severely impacted. A total of 12 children have died, livestock has been lost and crops of rice, jute and vegetable crops have been badly damaged.

Hasin Jahan, Practical Action country director in Bangladesh, said: “The donation of food from those who benefitted from our project is a first for Practical Action and demonstrates the impact of the UK Aid funded project, Pumpkins Against Poverty.

“The floods caused massive damage to crops, houses, roads and the rural poor people who are the first-line victims. Their homes and farming lands are silted and muddy with a scarcity of drinking water and food.

“Women, especially new mothers and mothers-to-be are in extremely vulnerable situations. Children and adolescent girls are suffering immensely.”

Practical Action is also distributing relief packs (including rice, pulses, oil, biscuits, potatoes, salt, saline, soap and sanitary towels). Staff and 156 Practical Action-trained volunteer river gauge readers, together with government staff, are supporting flood affected families by moving them to safe shelters.

They are also passing early flood warnings and weather related information to communities. A partner charity is also installing six tube-wells to give people access to clean water. 16 community based organisations set up by Practical Action are providing health and hygienic awareness messages

Practical Action has been arguing for greater disaster preparedness for many years in Nepal and Bangladesh and has been working with authorities to try and improve resilience to flooding.

In Nepal areas that Practical Action work in have not been badly affected, due to flood resilience work we have been doing with communities.

An early warning system set up by Practical Action in the Kankai River basin helped save hundreds of lives. The text messaging system and mock flood exercises carried out in June were crucial in warning villagers and evacuating those affected.

Local villager Pratap BK said: “If we had not received SMS messages and information about the rainfall and water level, more than 93 people from Taghnadubba village would have been washed away.”

A Practical Action soil bioengineering project that protects riverbanks in western Nepal withstood the flooding and saved the area from further land erosion.