ANTANANARIVO – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), on behalf of the American people, is rolling out the first in a series of planned activities to help those affected by Cyclone Batsirai. USAID is providing humanitarian funding to the non-governmental organization CARE to furnish temporary housing, clean water, and basic household items for 1,500 people currently living in evacuation sites.
“The United States and Madagascar are like ‘Mpirahalahy mianala,’ through good times and bad,” U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Amy Hyatt said. “We mourn alongside you the death and destruction caused by Cyclone Batsirai. This $100,000 contribution is just the beginning of a series of assistance activities planned by USAID to help communities devastated by the storm to recover and rebuild.”
The humanitarian support will provide shelter and daily household items like pots, pans, buckets, utensils and more, to people whose homes have been too heavily damaged, giving them somewhere to live and equipment to use until more permanent housing can be rebuilt. The safety and privacy of women and girls in these accommodations will be a priority.
The U.S. government will also increase the availability of safe drinking water, help people treat and safely store their water, hand out menstrual health hygiene kits to 300 women and girls, and raise awareness about the need for good hygiene.
USAID staff in Madagascar, South Africa, and Washington, D.C., continue to monitor the humanitarian impacts of Tropical Cyclone Batsirai in close coordination with the U.S. Embassy and humanitarian partners.
The United States is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Madagascar, providing more than $50 million in humanitarian assistance in 2021, including life-saving emergency food and other assistance to address food insecurity in the Madagascar’s drought stricken south and millions of vaccines and other support for the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
PHOTO: USAID Madagascar