DHAKA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in Bangladesh along with two U.N. agencies, on Saturday distributed relief materials to flood victims of the country's Nilphamari district, some 360 km northwest of Dhaka.
Bangladeshi government officials, Chinese officials from the embassy, and United Nations representatives attended the distribution ceremony.
Household materials and sheets were distributed to the affected families in Bangladesh.
The 2017 South-Asian monsoons inundated the northern flood plains of Bangladesh, severely affecting millions of people in 31 districts.
Flood waters destroyed 82,000 houses and damaged many more, leaving 320,000 people in need of support to repair their homes and replace their damaged belongings once the flood waters receded.
To support the flood response, China's Commerce Ministry partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide 4 million U.S. dollars for flood victims to help them recover.
Additionally, UNDP has partnered with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to ensure that flood-affected women and girls will be provided with emergency dignity kits containing clothing, personal hygiene items and a flashlight, and health workers provided with emergency health response kits to serve women and girls' health needs.
As part of this joint initiative of UNDP and China, Myanmar's Rohingya women and girls in Bangladesh through the UNFPA received reproductive health kits, medicines and supplies.
A total of 13,910 families in the flood-hit Kurigram, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Bogra and Nilphamari districts received relief materials. Nearly 118,000 women received emergency reproductive health kits in Cox's Bazar.
In his speech, Chinese Economic and Commercial Counselor to Bangladesh Li Guangjun said that China "sympathized with the flood victims and refugees in Bangladesh" and "appreciated the humanitarian assistance provided by UNDP in partnership with other organizations."
He hoped that the materials would help to improve the flood victims' and refugees' lives.
Bangladeshi Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor said in his remarks that "I hope this kind of support from UNDP and China will continue in future, whenever there is any disaster."
Sudipto Mukerjee, Country Director of UNDP Bangladesh said, "China has been increasingly supporting developing countries in humanitarian relief and recovery as well as advancing the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. This partnership is a reflection of South-South Cooperation."
