Asia floods
Floods have devastated communities across Asia
Photo: James Boakes/ActionAid
Nearly six months on from the heavy monsoon rains which caused severe flooding across Asia, many of those affected are still relying on emergency relief.
Flood waters displaced millions in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand throughout the second half of 2011.
Nearly half a year on, the disaster is still far from over.
Although the attention of the world’s media may have moved on, the misery continues, with hundreds of thousands of people still living in appalling conditions.
said Bijay Kumar, ActionAid's Head of Emergencies of the situation in Thailand and Cambodia.
With crops and livelihoods destroyed across the affected countries, people are stuggling to rebuild their llives. 74 year old Nu Rittiruk felt the full force of the flood.
We had to leave everything behind, everything we owned. Night after night, I try to fall asleep but my mind is filled with worries. I don't know if I can return home even after the water level has decreased. Everything is ruined, gone with the rushing flow of the flood
What we’re doing
ActionAid teams are on the ground in the affected areas across Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. In the emergency phase we worked closely with local partner organisations to provide much needed supplies - food, water, medicines and shelter materials - to those affected.
Bijay Kumar, ActionAid’s Head of Emergencies, said: “ActionAid and its partners have worked round the clock to provide urgently-needed relief. Shelter, clean water, food and health and hygiene items are top priorities, along with providing fodder for animals.”
In Sindh province, southern Pakistan, we’ve already reached over 6,000 people with emergency provisions, whilst in Bangladesh our support is helping 2,500 families. In Thailand and Cambodia we've provided over 25,000 people with much needed food and items such as moquito nets, blankets and tents.
But we urgently need to scale up our response to meet the increasing needs of those affected.
Looking to the long term
These people were already poor and vulnerable. The rice being planted is all they have, but it's been completely destroyed by the floods.
Mao Souen, from Somroang village, Cambodia.
Disasters such as floods aren’t just a single event that lasts a week or so; they devastate the lives of those affected for years to come. ActionAid will be supporting families to rebuild their homes and livelihoods in the long term, and helping communities to become less vulnerable to similar crises.
The worst flooding for decades has affected up to seven million people in Thailand and Cambodia, and more than five months on, people are still relying on emergency relief from charities such as ActionAid
Blogs from the floods
