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Bangladesh Flood …. Urgent action needed
 Panu Begum was sitting on the roof of her house when the television reporter passed by. She had been living on this small strip of corrugated tin for five days. The water below was too deep to stand in.
“The flood has entered everyone’s homes.” said Panu. “There’s nowhere to take refuge. I am cooking, eating, living and sleeping up here”.
Next door, her neighbours, a family with four children, huddled together under what little shade they could find from the heat of the sun. This whole family had been living up on their roof for the best part of a week. Their goat was the only valuable possession to have been saved from the flood.
Thousands of people are in the same predicament. Some have been given only a few kilograms of rice, which is not nearly enough to sustain them.
Bangladesh is no stranger to floods, every year it is thought that one fifth of the country disappears beneath the monsoon rain waters, people cope and survive, but this is the worst flood they have known for almost ten years.
As the monsoon rains from Nepal and north-east India work their way into the Bangladesh delta people wade through brackish, stinking, flood water with water-borne diseases being a real danger. In times like these it’s the children who are particularly vulnerable.
People are cooking their meagre food supply in water scooped from the flood as they have no other choice. There is simply no clean water available.
In the capital, Dhaka, at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Research patient numbers have shot up from the usual 150 per day to over 600! Many are very seriously ill. “At first it was mainly adult men, who were probably drinking contaminated water at work.” commented Dr Alejandro Cravioto. “In the last few days, however, we have seen a big increase in the number of children coming to us.”
The International Needs Centre, which is situated in a predominantly Muslim area in Dhaka, has had the basement affected by the flood water. The surrounding area is flooded and people are coming to them for help. IN has an opportunity here to demonstrate God’s Love in action by providing for them. Most have lost their houses and need clean water, food and shelter. Will you help?
Your gift will provide emergency assistance and provision of life’s basic essentials such as:
FOOD;
CLEAN WATER;
BLANKETS;
BASIC MEDICAL SUPPLIES; AND,
SHELTER
It is estimated that over 5 million people have been displaced or marooned and millions have lost their homes as a result of the flooding. But mere numbers don’t convey the anguish of people who have lost everything and the suffering seen in their eyes as they ask for our help.
There are three ways you can contribute:
- Go online to www.justgiving.com/inukBangladeshAppeal07
- Credit/debit card donations can be made on 020 8688 3939 (sorry but we can’t accept telephone donations by switch card)
- By post. Please make your cheque payable to International Needs and return it in the enclosed freepost envelope. Please write your name and address on the back of the cheque or fill in the downloadable form.
Thank you for considering this. Please be assured that your gift will be sent to our partners in Bangladesh and will be used to directly help those who are in desperate need.
Yours sincerely
PETER STALEY
National Director
PS: I have just heard from Nicanor Tamang in Nepal and he tells me that he has been to see some people affected by the floods. All the houses are made of mud and some people had their homes completely washed away, others need emergency repairs, especially tin roofs. Nicanor asks for our help to make this possible. If you wish your gift to go specifically to Nepal please write ‘Nepal’ on either the enclosed form or on the back of the cheque. Thank you.
God Bless. Peter Staley.
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