Heavy rainfall befell Bangladesh in the last week of June 2015, causing landslides and flash flooding. 29 Upazilas (sub-districts) of the South-Eastern districts of Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban and Chittagong were the worst affected areas as identified by the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) - a Joint Needs Assessment revealed that a total of over 1.8 million people were adversely impacted.

Incessant rainfalls in turn resulted in a depression in the North Bay of Bengal and transformed in to a Cyclonic Storm ‘Komen’ on 30 July 2015, affecting 15 districts situated in the low-lying areas of the coastal belt, offshore islands, and chars. ‘Komen’ led to further heavy to very heavy rainfall across the entire country, and caused inundation in many areas of Southeast Bangladesh, including those which were affected by the initial phase of heavy rainfall. Consequently the lives and livelihoods of a large cross section of people from these areas were severely impacted – JNA and a post-cyclone rapid impact assessment conducted in the most affected districts revealed that the total number of people affected by flash floods and ‘Komen’ stood at 2.6 million in Southern Bangladesh!

The assessments identified Food Security/Supply, Livelihoods, WASH, and Shelter as the immediate needs of the affected people. Humanitarian actors came together to incorporate these needs in to a Joint Response Plan (JRP) aimed at addressing the immediate and emerging adversities facing the most vulnerable and affected communities. The response plan was also endorsed by the key stakeholders including government and donor organizations.

Based on the JRP the National Alliance for Risk Reduction and Response Initiatives (NARRI) consortium undertook a response project in the most affected areas. NARRI responded to the immediate needs of affected communities by providing unconditional cash grants as assistance. CARE Bangladesh led the consortium with Oxfam, Concern Worldwide (CWW), Concern Universal (CU) and Plan International as consortium members, while Handicap International served as technical partner. [4 pages]