The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has dispatched cash assistance to about 30,000 people at risk of monsoon flooding in northern Bangladesh based on forecast.
The UN agency said they had sent Tk4,500 or $53 per household through the mobile banking system to 6,000 households living within the flood zone - including those headed by people with disabilities, the elderly and women.
This forecast-based financing has been as part of the support to the Bangladesh government’s emergency response to help people prepare for the looming disaster.
The Korea Internationa l Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the German foreign ministry helped them for the support.
“By offering an infusion of cash prior to the floodwaters actually reaching communities, vulnerable families now have the flexibility to purchase food or other basic relief items and make plans to move themselves and their livestock out of harm’s way,” said Richard Ragan, WFP Country Director in Bangladesh.
During the monsoon season last year, WFP provided cash assistance through its Forecast-based Financing programme to 4,500 households.
The transfers were made to the most senior women of the household, and arrived three days ahead of the floods, enabling them to prepare, including buying food and transporting family members and livestock to safer places.