USAID Announces Up To $1 Million for India Flood Victims

August 2, 2001

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Andrew Natsios, announced today that USAID will provide up to $1 million to assist flood victims in Orissa State, India.

The latest in a string of recent natural disasters, including both a super cyclone, and a multi-year drought, Orissa State's current floods could not have come at a worse time. From June 1 to the present, rainfall has been more than 90 percent above normal levels, most severely affecting the districts of Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, and Jajpur. The heavy and incessant rains have caused intense flooding in 24 of Orissa State's 30 districts, many of which were just beginning to recover from the 1999 super cyclone.

On July 20, USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) responded to the floods in Orissa State with an initial $25,000. This preliminary aid was allocated to the Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief Fund to help meet the immediate needs of flood-affected families.

Additional USAID assistance of up to $975,000 will support relief programs addressing the provision of potable water, emergency shelters, sanitation facilities, and disease surveillance. Non-Governmental Organizations and International Organizations will undertake these programs based on needs recently identified by USAID in its assessments of the most-affected flood areas.

In addition to this newly approved assistance, USAID has also provided nearly $13 million in response to the January 26, 2000 earthquake in Gujarat State and $1.3 million in response to India's current drought.

According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the official death toll from the flooding stands at 83, and approximately 8 million people, in more than 12,900 villages have been affected. In addition, OCHA reports that more than 600,000 people have been evacuated while another 1 million remain stranded in flooded areas. The full extent of damages and destruction is not yet known. However, preliminary estimates by the Government of India indicate that 175,000 houses and 710,000 hectares of crops are damaged.

The United States Agency for International Development is the U.S. government agency that provides development and humanitarian assistance worldwide.