Food packages with staples were provided in Chakaria as organisers said the phased programme would ease immediate hardship for families who lost homes, supplies and livelihoods.
ISDE Bangladesh has distributed food assistance to another 1,000 flood-hit families in Cox’s Bazar, the second phase of a programme that aims to reach 5,000 households affected by recent flooding in the southeastern Bangladesh district.
The assistance was handed out on Sunday, July 19, to families in Fasiakhali Union No. 8 and Kaiarbil Union No. 3 of Chakaria upazila. The programme covers flood-affected families in Chakaria, Pekua and Matamuhuri upazilas in phases.
The humanitarian assistance programme is funded by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, known as KSrelief, and implemented by ISDE Bangladesh.
In the second phase, food packages were distributed among 500 families at Fasiakhali Union Parishad and another 500 families at Kaiarbil Union Parishad.
Earlier, in the first phase of the same programme, 1,000 flood-affected families in Chakaria municipality received food assistance. ISDE Bangladesh said the remaining affected families would receive food aid in phases.
Each family received a food package containing 10 kilograms of rice, seven kilograms of lentils, three litres of soybean oil, one kilogram of sugar and one kilogram of salt.
Organisers said the assistance would help families cope with immediate food shortages caused by the floods.
At the distribution event in Fasiakhali Union Parishad, those present included administrative officer Md Ataul Gani Parvez, political and social figure Kutub Uddin and engineer Sahedul Mostafa.
The programme at Kaiarbil Union Parishad was attended by Union Parishad secretary Nurul Alam, political and social figure Shekafuddin Uddin, Union Parishad members Mozammel Haque of Ward No. 4, Nurul Islam of Ward No. 9, Akter Ahmed of Ward No. 5 and Abul Kalam of Ward No. 8, former Union Parishad member Abu Yusuf Mohammad Yahya of Ward No. 7 and social worker Ariful Islam.
ISDE Bangladesh was represented by project coordinator Md Jahangir Alam, upazila manager Jalal Uddin, project officer for meals Mostak Ahmed and logistics project officer Taj Uddin.
Local public representatives said many families had lost homes, food supplies and sources of livelihood in the recent floods, leaving them in a humanitarian crisis. They said the food assistance was helping ease people’s suffering and giving affected families renewed hope.
“Standing beside people affected by the floods is our humanitarian responsibility,” ISDE Bangladesh project coordinator Md Jahangir Alam said.
“In the first phase, food assistance was provided to 1,000 families in Chakaria municipality. Today, in the second phase, another 1,000 families in Fasiakhali and Kaiarbil unions received this assistance. Food aid will be delivered in phases to all 5,000 affected families,” he said.
Beneficiaries said the assistance had brought relief at a time when many families had lost homes and belongings and had no income. They said the food packages would help reduce their families’ worries over food for at least a few days.
ISDE Bangladesh said it had earlier distributed food assistance to about 56,000 beneficiaries in remote host community areas and Rohingya refugee camps. The organisation said such humanitarian assistance would continue in future to help ensure food security for people facing disasters and humanitarian crises.
