Global Fund for Children and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have taken the initiative of helping kids rebuild their lives after natural disasters by building schools that function on boats themselves. "Floating schools", as these classrooms are known, help provide an education for children whose lives were drastically affected by the effects of constant flooding. Furthermore, children who even prior to a natural disaster did not receive proper schooling benefited from the opening of floating schools, making these communities into beneficial learning spots. However, there are effects from flooding that cannot be avoided simply by raising houses above flood level. Water contamination, for example, is very difficult to cope with during floods. Because of this, many people in Bangladesh use a tube well, which is a well with a top that is raised high enough that contaminated flood water from a flood cannot enter it. Many cities also have flood shelters, which are large raised platforms where people can find refuge from the effects of the on-rushing flood. As a result of several demanding summer floods, in 2004, the government of Bangladesh made the step of seeking foreign aid rather than try to assist the millions of homeless people on their own. Nearly all the 147 million people living in Bangladesh at the time (crammed into a space the size of Iowa) were forced to adapt to intense rainfall and water-borne disease exposed conditions. An increase of salinity, a lack of food distributors, and the effects of seeing slum dwellers survive on flood water were just the initial blows to a monumental flood season that summer, extending beyond Bangladesh's borders and affecting India, China, Nepal, and Vietnam as well. These may be great solutions to the problem of flooding, but some cities do not have raised houses or flood shelters. These cities typically have rescue boats that can search for people who were unable to get above flood level and help them get out of the water. These boats are very important; they rescue over a thousand people over the course of multiple years. Flood shelter suitability areas in Bangladesh To mitigate flood disasters impact, it is crucial to understand the areas that are flooded by water. At the same time, flood-affected families also can get a safe location to shelter. In Bangladesh, most rural homes are situated in low-lying floodplain regions, which are highly vulnerable to flooding. Many