Direct Relief is continuing to respond to specific requests from local partners in Bangladesh affected by Cyclone Sidr, and today sent eight tons of medical material assistance, valued at $1.2 million (wholesale), to local partner Sangkalpa Trust.

This shipment contained a disaster module, a standard part of Direct Relief’s response to emergencies worldwide, with an assortment of wound dressings, sutures, exam gloves, and analgesics. Also included was a wide range of broad spectrum antibiotics, surgical instruments, and vitamins. All items were specifically requested.

Sangkalpa Trust has created a mobile medical team staffed with two doctors, three nurses and two lab techs. The team will be used for outreach to remote areas with limited access to healthcare services, particularly in the districts of Barguna, Patuakhali, and Sathira, three of the hardest hit areas.

After Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh in November and caused a subsequent 15-foot tidal surge, Direct Relief immediately responded to local partners’ needs by redirecting a large consignment of antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, wound care supplies, and analgesics that had reached the capital city of Dhaka only weeks prior.

These initial supplies were sent to partner organization SSS to backfill medical stores used to respond to the massive flooding that affected Bangladesh just months prior to the cyclone.

According to U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nine million people have been affected by the powerful cyclone, and due to the limited access to the remote coastal regions, aid has been slow to reach those on the periphery.

Direct Relief will continue to support the emergency response for as long as needed, alongside its regular supplies of medical material aid to fulfill the long-term needs of its network of partners in Bangladesh.