Thousands of people whose lives have been devastated by flooding in Bangladesh will be given urgently-needed humanitarian assistance as a result of a grant of £20,000 from a charity in north-east England.

The floods have affected more than 7.5 million people, including 114 known to have lost their lives. An estimated 600,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed, with damage to 6,640km of roads and other vital infrastructure, with hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops lost.

Rose Caldwell, Chief Executive of Plan International UK, said: “We’re hugely grateful for this generous contribution to Plan International’s disaster response in Bangladesh.

“These funds will make an enormous difference to hundreds of families affected by the devastating floods and help them get back on their feet by providing urgent essentials like hygiene products, water buckets and mosquito nets.”

The £20,000 grant to Plan International UK comes from freemasons in Durham region of England and is aimed at providing vital supplies for the many thousands of displaced people; including blankets, mosquito nets, water buckets and personal hygiene products, which will be distributed in Kurigram District, which has been hit especially hard by the disaster.

The grant has been made through the Masonic Charitable Foundation, which is funded by freemasons – a historic organisation – their families and friends, from across England and Wales.