Monsoon Season Brings South Asian Countries Triple Disaster

Communities in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal are coping with a triple disaster: flooding, the pandemic, and loss of livelihoods during monsoon season, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned on Wednesday. The monsoon has affected just under 10 million people in the three South Asian countries.

Volunteers in the region are working to provide shelter, food, and hygiene kits, as well as pumps for safe water. Many of these areas are still recovering from the damage to infrastructure and property caused by Cyclone Amphan two months earlier. In Bangladesh, communities already surrounded by high water are bracing for further flooding in the coming days. The Red Crescent team has distributed cash grants to alleviate some of the financial pain.

“Flooding of farm lands and destruction of crops can push millions of people, already badly impacted by the Covid-19, further into poverty,” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said in a statement.