The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing $900,000 in additional assistance to save lives, meet urgent humanitarian needs, and help affected people recover from the devastating floods in Timor-Leste. Heavy rains and strong winds associated with Tropical Cyclone Seroja lashed Timor-Leste’s capital Dili and eight municipalities in April, causing extensive flooding and landslides resulting in dozens of deaths, destroyed crops, and thousands of evacuations.
The additional assistance announced today will support USAID partner World Vision to provide access to seeds and tools for farmers to replant staple crops destroyed by the flooding. USAID’s support will also improve the production of vegetables and staple crops like maize and rice to increase household income and food security for more than 15,000 people.
This new funding builds on USAID’s initial support of $100,000 for urgent relief supplies provided in the initial days after the storm, bringing USAID’s total U.S. humanitarian assistance to the people of Timor-Leste in response to the floods to $1 million dollars.