Chronic conflict, 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 2004 and FY 2013, 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 floods throughout the region.
Between FY 2004 and FY 2013, USAID provided more than $2.4 billion in disaster response assistance in South Asia. USAID/OFDA assistance included approximately $780 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. USAID/FFP assistance included more than $1.6 billion in emergency food assistance.
In the last decade, USAID deployed multiple humanitarian assessment teams to the region, including six Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs). In December 2004, members of a multi-country DART responded to the impacts
