The overall flood situation in the country has deteriorated further due to heavy rainfall and an on-rush of flood waters from the upper regions of the country. The Government has called out the army to assist the rescue and relief operation in the worst hit districts and the DG NGO Affairs Bureau has made an official appeal to the NGOs for immediate emergency relief. The Flood Forecasting & Warning Center (FFWC) reports that the flooding in the north-eastern part of the country continues to deteriorate and the situation in the north and central parts of the country is also likely to worsen. Out of 86 river monitoring points, 33 have now crossed their respective danger levels.

Low-lying areas around Dhaka City are inundated, forcing many people to move to safer places. Water-borne diseases have broken out in some affected districts.

The ACT Forum Bangladesh: Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB), Church of Bangladesh (CoB) Social Health & Education Development (SHED) Board and KOINONIA have prepared a joint proposal to distribute a relief package containing basic food items to 10,000 of the most vulnerable families affected by the flooding. Each ACT member will distribute 2,000 packages to families in their own operational areas. RDRS will act as the co-ordinating organisation for this appeal.

The ACT Forum members continues to monitor and assess the deteriorating situation in their respective working areas and will keep the ACT Co-ordinating Office informed. It is therefore expected that the present Appeal will be revised to include further relief programmes from the individual ACT members if there is need of additional support from the Alliance.

Project Completion Date: 31 August 2004

US$

Total Appeal Target(s): 87,167

Less: Pledges/Contr. Recd.: 0

Balance Requested from ACT Alliance: 87,167

Jessie Kgoroeadira
Acting Director, ACT Co-ordinating Office