Chronic conflicts, earthquakes, recurrent seasonal storms, floods, droughts, and severe winter weather, as well as limited government response capacity, present significant challenges to vulnerable populations in South Asia. Between FY 2005 and FY 2014, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) and USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) have provided humanitarian assistance in response to a diverse range of natural and complex emergencies in the region, including cyclones in Bangladesh, earthquakes in India and Pakistan, and complex crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, as well as severe monsoon floods and landslides throughout the region.
Between FY 2005 and FY 2014, USAID provided more than $2.5 billion in disaster response assistance in South Asia. USAID/OFDA assistance included more than $809 million for programs in health, nutrition, protection, agriculture and food security, livelihoods, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), as well as support for humanitarian coordination and logistics and the provision of relief commodities. As of September 22, USAID/FFP assistance during this time period included more than $1.7 billion for food assistance in the form of U.S. purchased food, locally and/or regionally purchased food, cash transfers for food, food vouchers, and related activities
In the last decade, USAID deployed multiple humanitarian assessment teams to the region, including five Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs). The majority of recent DARTs deployed in South Asia operated in Pakistan, including in response to earthquakes in FY 2006 and FY 2009; conflict and displacement in FY 2009 and, most recently, in response to countrywide flooding in FY 2010. During most of these responses, USAID also activated Response Management Teams based in Washington, D.C., to support DART coordination and humanitarian efforts.
Due to the recurrent or chronic nature of many of the disasters that affect populations across South Asia, USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP provide additional funding beyond that programmed toward specific responses noted above, supporting projects that increase the resilience of vulnerable populations to cope with future shocks while continuing to meet the immediate needs of affected populations. In collaboration with U.S. Government, host country, and regional counterparts, USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP’s resilience initiatives seek to build the resilience of affected households and communities, in conjunction with development programs where feasible and appropriate. USAID/OFDA also supports early recovery activities that help conflict-affected populations rebuild livelihoods and strengthen self-sufficiency, where possible, sustainable, and appropriate. USAID/OFDA has developed a regional disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy to complement emergency assistance interventions and address the underlying causes of vulnerability, emphasizing building local capacity to prepare for and respond to disaster events. DRR programs include earthquake risk management in Nepal, community-based disaster risk management in Pakistan, capacity building for local authorities and first responders in India, and hazard mapping in Afghanistan.
Through emergency and development food assistance programs, USAID/FFP works to save lives and reduce food insecurity in times of crisis and situations of chronic food insecurity. USAID/FFP emergency food assistance interventions include cash transfers for food, food vouchers, food for work, food for training, food for assets, targeted supplementary feeding, general distribution, institutional feeding, and complementary activities.