____________________________ JULY 29, 2004

TRAGIC FLOODS IN BANGLADESH LEAVE MILLIONS HOMELESS AND SICK

Tragic floods in Bangladesh have killed 1,600 people and left 2.4 million homeless. More than half of Dhaka is under water, and the situation is getting worse as the water keeps rising.

The garment workers' slum neighborhoods are the hardest hit, because they are in the low-lying areas where rent is the cheapest. The workers' homes are under two feet of black water, or more accurately, a polluted muck of sewage, mud and filth. The flood has polluted all sources of drinking water. The smell is overwhelming and sickening. Fifty percent of the garment factories have shut, and hundreds of thousands are out of work.

Medicine is in short supply, and diarrhea is rampant, especially among the workers' children.

In Dhaka alone, 500,000 garment workers have lost their homes and most of their few possessions.

Please help. Contribute whatever you can...$10, $25, $50, $100, $250. We know this tragedy seems overwhelming and sadly is just one of many that the poorest people in the world are suffering.

But we can tell you this: every cent you send will reach these garment workers, 85 percent of whom are women, and their children. Both the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) and the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) are ready to distribute any aid received. Already hundreds of workers are crowding into their tiny offices desperately seeking help, even if it is just a bowl of rice and a bottle of clean water. Many workers and their families are now living crowded in the offices of the NGWF and BCWS since they have no place else to turn.

Please help. Thank you and we will keep you posted.

You can contribute online at http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/bangflood/

Or mail your contribution to:

Bangladesh Emergency Fund
National Labor Committee
540 West 48th St., 3rd Fl.
New York, NY 10036