The Start Fund Bangladesh (SFB), supported by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), formerly known as UKAID, has allocated GBP 500,000 (Tk 57,000,000) to the communities affected by waterlogging in Satkhira and Khulna.
The fund is being awarded to the organizations Uttaran and Caritas, under the banner of Extended Humanitarian Assistance (EHA), said a press release.
This Extended Humanitarian Assistance phase is applicable only in exceptional circumstances where the emergency situation is ongoing (and a transition to recovery is not in sight) and alternative sources of funding are not available; or where the humanitarian situation is deteriorated due to a new crisis within an ongoing response.
This phase follows the stipulated completion of the 45-day response that each organization takes to implement their interventions.
Khulna and Satkhira districts have been exposed to prolonged impacts of climatic disaster that started with Cyclone Amphan towards the end of May, leading to excessive waterlogging in key upazilas of the districts around September.
A lack of available data or official reports on this matter, has further posed an increase in the hardships on the local communities, where an estimated 8000 have been displaced.
The second phase of funding follows the previous response, where the Satkhira based organisation Uttaran, lead a consortium including Nabolok, Bhumjia Foundation, Ideal, Muslim Aid and Islamic Relief, to carry out interventions.
With the intention of fostering an ongoing dialogue on advocacy and general awareness around the issue of waterlogging, a mass media campaign was part of these activities.
This project is expected to contribute immensely during the upcoming cyclone season in April-May 2021.
The project will repair over 15-kilometre of road/embankment, heavily damaged during cyclone Amphan in May, followed by water logging and tidal surges in August-September.
Affected communities in targeted unions are hoping that these infrastructures, if repaired, will protect them from regular tidal inundations (area of roughly 11,000 Acres). This will also enable safe communication for over 50,000 people and their access to markets and cyclone shelters in the upcoming cyclone season, while the project will also raise the level of a number of school ground above the flood level.
Start Fund Bangladesh is a £10 million rapid emergency response fund created by the Start Network in 2017 with support from UK aid, modeled on the successful Start Fund that activates funding within 72 hours of a crisis alert, filling a crucial gap in global aid funding.
As of September 2018, Start Fund Bangladesh has been among the first responders to underfunded, small to medium sized emergencies country wide, reaching around 6 million people.
The fund, during the last nine months, has awarded around Tk 380,000,000 to its member agencies to reach communities affected by Covid-19 and other crisis like Measles, Dengue, cyclone Amphan, Nor’wester, riverbank erosion, ongoing flooding in the North and the current waterlogging.
