The British Red Cross is working in Bangladesh to assist up to 1,000 households rebuild their homes and restore their livelihoods following the devastating cyclone in November.

Cyclone Sidr triggered a tidal surge that destroyed three coastal towns in Bangladesh on 15 November, claiming more than 3,300 lives. Around 1.5 million homes were ripped apart and an estimated 2.5 million acres of crops ruined.

In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, the British Red Cross sent an Emergency Response Unit (ERU) to work with the Bangladesh Red Crescent to co-ordinate the distribution of relief.

The British Red Cross also carried out a three-week assessment of the tragedy to work out the most urgent needs of the communities affected.

We will use skilled people from the community to train other members to build their homes better.

Rachid Boumnijel, British Red Cross

As a result it has set up a programme, which aims to benefit an estimated 6,000 people. This will employ local carpenters and masons to train the community in house-building skills to ensure people rebuild more resilient homes.

Rachid Boumnijel, relief support officer, said: "The assessment team found that large numbers of houses had been so poorly built that they had little chance of withstanding the cyclone or the tidal surge. Part of our programme will be to use skilled people from the community to train other members to build their homes better."

The British Red Cross programme will also support the most vulnerable through cash grants or vouchers to buy fishing nets, and seeds and fertiliser to help restore their livelihoods.

The ERU has been working to deliver relief goods, including food, blankets and tarpaulins to more than 100,000 families affected by the cyclone.

The British Red Cross appeal has raised more than £600,000 for Bangladesh, and a very generous £5.7 million was raised through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal.

Read the Bangladesh information sheet