Flooding Creates Dire Need

As waterborne diseases continue to claim lives in the South Asian countries hit by devastating floods, health officials are struggling to keep up and impoverished families who have lost livestock and harvests are in desperate need of emergency assistance, according to World Bank officials.

Late this week, Shantayanan Devarajan, the World Bank's chief economist for South Asia, issued an appeal for cash transfers as an immediate mechanism to stave off disaster. Cash transfers provide cash or vouchers to households directly, as opposed to providing services or commodities such as food supplies.

In previous natural disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, floods in Bangladesh three years ago and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, this swift injection of assistance proved effective. Cash transfers in emergencies give households flexibility, allowing families to spend the money according to their needs.

This year's South Asian monsoon floods have killed about 2,000 people and left millions homeless in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal.
more from the Washington Post