As well as suffering the trauma of destroyed homes and livelihoods, thousands of older people faced starvation, or were marooned by floodwaters without access to safe drinking water.  

An older woman carries drinking water through the flood

HelpAge International and its partners distributed emergency food supplies as well as useful items such as candles, tarpaulin and clothing.

We set up community kitchens to supply food, with a special emphasis on including older people.

We bleached over 400 community water pumps to prevent outbreaks of disease and distributed water purification tablets.

Mobile Medicare Units were deployed, and medical teams travelled through the flooded areas by boat.

Incessant rain made it even harder to collect drinking water

We already had longstanding links with older people's associations in many affected areas, and older people themselves played a central role in all aspects of the relief effort. The result was quick delivery, more accurate targeting, and a sense of empowerment for the communities concerned.

In areas where most people make a living by fishing and farming, the loss of boats, nets and livestock is a serious problem. We are working to give people the equipment they need to get back on their feet and start earning money again.