In pictures: Colombia floods response
More than 2,230,000 people have been affected by the worst floods in Colombia's history.
Children playing in flood water, which has forced thousands of families from their homes.
Boys living in a temporary shelter at a school. More than 300 schools are currently being used as short-term shelters for the homeless.
Plan is helping more than 16,000 people affected by the floods and has distributed food, water, cooking utensils, hygiene kits as well as clothes and mattresses.
A health worker checking a boy's teeth in one of the temporary shelters.
Plan has provided psychosocial support - or emotional first aid - to families experiencing distress from the disaster.
A boy plays with a kite at one of the shelters. Physical activity is an effective way to help children cope.
Plan is now setting up child-friendly spaces in shelters where children can play and learn in safety.
15 February 2011: Thousands of Colombians are in dire need of food and housing following the worst floods in the country's history.
“Some parts of the country have been set back 15 to 20 years,” says Plan’s country director in Colombia, Gabriela Bucher. “More than 328,000 houses have been damaged and more than 5,000 have been completely destroyed.”
“We are working to make sure more than 16,000 people, including children, have enough food to survive on,” says Ms Bucher. “Some families have lost everything and many crops have been completely wiped out.”
Essential supplies
Plan has distributed food, water, cooking utensils, hygiene kits as well as clothes and mattresses to families in the Bolivar department - one of the worst-hit areas.
In addition to emergency supplies, Plan is working to ensure that children caught up in the crisis are protected from abuse of any kind. Plan-supported child-friendly spaces are being created where children can play and learn in safety.
“We are used to flooding in Colombia, but it has never lasted so long, nor reached such a critical point,” says Ms Bucher.
Visit the Plan in Colombia website (in Spanish) to learn more.
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