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August 15, 2007


In the wake of severe flooding across South Asia, triggered by an unusually violent monsoon season this year, floodwaters have swept animal carcasses downstream into low-lying villages across India and Bangladesh.

As a result, water supplies in many areas are contaminated. With stagnant floodwater expected to remain for at least two weeks, our staff reports that a new disaster is looming.

Waterborne Illnesses Spreading

"Waterborne diseases, including skin diseases, are spreading among the [flood] affected people," says Amio Ascension, a World Vision staff member in Bangladesh. "It is estimated that one or two members of each affected family have been infected with diarrhea or other waterborne diseases."

Media reports indicate that in Bangladesh alone, some 61,000 people are suffering from these illnesses, including diarrhea and cholera.

Children Most at Risk

Children forced from their flood-soaked homes to live in the open for an extended period of time are particularly vulnerable to illnesses. "Because they lack drinking water and have to cross through dirty water … they are in huge risk of becoming victim[s] of waterborne diseases like dysentery," says Theotonius Gomes, manager of World Vision's Faridpur program area in Bangladesh.

Among those at risk is Bithi, a young girl whose family, including her two sisters, has taken shelter in the town of Faridpur, about 75 miles south of the capital city of Dhaka. "We do not sleep in the night, fearing that our little children may fall into the nearby deep floodwater," says the girls' mother.

In India, the situation is equally hazardous. "Almost all the children I saw are showing some signs of skin infection, mostly from playing around in the dirty floodwater," reports Jayakumar Christian, World Vision's national director in India. UNICEF estimates that more than 1.5 million children there are under threat of disease from the stagnant water.

World Vision's Response

Additionally, communities in India and Bangladesh are preparing to cope with long-term effects of the flooding, including a potentially severe livelihood crisis.

"The biggest challenge will be when the people start going back to their homes," says Christian. "This will be a slow process with the need to address economic, health, and infrastructure issues."

World Vision plans to assist 10,000 flood-affected households in India, supplying food, shelter, safe drinking water, education supplies, kitchen utensils, and clothing. As families begin returning to their villages, we will also provide them each with a 30-day package of food rations, utensils, and blankets. Additionally, materials will be available for rebuilding homes.

In Bangladesh, flooding has damaged 690,000 households and destroyed 600,000 acres of land. During its initial aid response, World Vision plans to assist nearly 24,000 families in its program areas in Bangladesh; 50,000-80,000 more outside of these areas may also be assisted, if sufficient resources exist. "Our intention is not just to save the lives of the people, as we do in relief, but to build the resiliency of the community," says Ascension.

Some 7,000 Bangladeshi families in the Ullapara and Kamarkhali communities of the Sirajganj district will also receive aid packets containing rice, lentils, potatoes, sugar, salt, clothing, soybean oil, oral re-hydration salts, and water-purifying tablets. Staff members report that the latter three items are particularly expensive because of their high demand since the flooding.

Meanwhile, our staff on the ground continues to work alongside local governments, completing needs assessments and monitoring other flood-affected areas across Bangladesh and India.

World Vision donors in the United States sponsor more than 30,000 children in Bangladesh and more than 52,000 in India. Our office in India operates programs that provide school supplies and educational facilities, construction of wells to reduce waterborne diseases, and agricultural training for farmers.