'The scale of devastation is enormous ... there is need wherever we look'
Contact: Rachel Wolff, World Vision, 253-394-2214 cell,
rwolff@worldvision.org
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Nov. 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- World Vision, the Christian humanitarian agency, is appealing for $2.1 million to provide an aid package that includes temporary shelter for more than 50,000 people whose homes were torn to shreds by Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh.
Of the total, US$1.5 million will go to provide tin sheeting for 9,375 families, or 50,000 individuals, who have lost their homes. An additional US$640,000 will provide emergency food and relief items to some 100,000 people.
"The scale of the devastation is enormous. It is very hard to get to some areas due to fallen trees. There is need wherever we look," said Vince Edwards, World Vision's national director in Bangladesh. Edwards was working with the agency's relief teams in hard-hit communities today. "We need to get bundles of tin sheeting to these families living out in the open," said Edwards. "We are going to focus our efforts on the worst affected: people who have completely lost their homes, women-headed households, the poorest of the poor and those families who have children with disabilities."
Rika Halder, 11, lost her home in Kandi village, Kotalipara, when it was smashed by high winds from the cyclone. Halder and her family survived, but their simple home made of bamboo and mud was flung into a nearby marshland.
"Our house was taken away like a toy," Halder told a World Vision aid worker. "We found it ... but without a roof or wall. My father and mother started screaming, as we were, too. What we need most is food and a place to live. It is hard to live under open sky."
The public can help by visiting www.worldvision.org or by calling 1.888.56.CHILD.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
Note to Editors: Distributions of initial emergency food-two kilograms of rice and one kilo of sugar or molasses per family-have already been made to 2,400 families; World Vision is also putting together 7-day emergency relief packs that include water, rice, potatoes, sugar, oil, salt, blankets, mattresses, clothing, oral re-hydration salts and candles for distribution to 20,000 families, or 100,000 individuals; More than 800 World Vision staff and volunteers are currently involved in the response, many providing first aid for those injured by flying debris and falling homes.
