Appeal target (current): CHF 750,000 (USD 731,134 or EUR 462,475);

Appeal coverage: donor support is currently being recorded, and will be made available in the next update

Appeal history:

- This Emergency Appeal was initially launched on a preliminary basis on 11 July 2008 for CHF 750,000 for 2

months to assist 47,500 beneficiaries.

- Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 483,047 was allocated from the Federation's DREF to support the national society to respond.

Summary:

Summary of crises with major changes since beginning of 2008

CHF 483,047 has been allocated from the Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to start the planned activities. Discussions are currently taking place to reallocate approximately CHF 550,000 remaining from the 2007 West Africa floods appeal to support this appeal. While these discussions are underway, partners are encouraged to provide timely support to this appeal.

But when a little rain, which is often initially welcomed, comes day after day and week after week - the water does become a problem. It drowns and rots the crops, kills livestock, causes rivers to overflow, causes landslides (that then destroy homes and communities), and increases the risk of diseases like malaria, dysentery and dengue fever.

In the last year, tens of millions of children and families have been directly affected by flooding - hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. Since July alone, massive flooding

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The West Africa region continues to experience the devastating consequences of two decades of complex emergencies and recurrent natural disasters. One of the poorest regions of the world, its problems are compounded by geographical and logistical challenges, such as large expanses of landlocked areas and extremely poor transportation networks. Poverty, the lack of basic social services, and weak governance have all resulted in extreme vulnerability to recurrent disasters, epidemics, violence, insecurity and population displacements.

Highlights

United Nations agencies and NGOs in Burkina Faso launched a flash appeal of 5,9 million USD on 26 October.

United Nations agencies in Guinea have

Plus de 800 000 personnes sont affectées par les inondations en Afrique de l'Ouest. Le Ghana, le Togo, le Mali et le Burkina Faso figurent parmi les pays les plus touchés

Persistance de l'insécurité dans le nord du Niger et le nord du Mali

Prévision d'une bonne production agricole

Cholera: Persistance en Sierra Léone, au Sénégal, et en Guinée

Processus de rapatriement des réfugiés Togolais et Mauritaniens en cours

Dix millions de dollars recherchés par les organisations humanitaires pour assister les victimes des inondations au Ghana

The UN has allocated US $ 3.5 mn emergency response humanitarian assistance to Mali ( $ 1 mn), Ghana ( $ 2.5 mn) and Togo ( $1.4 mn). The grants are from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) created in 2006 by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In Ghana, the Flash Appeal requests a total amount of US$9,913,136. As Health sector lead, WHO is seeking US$400,000.

In Burkina Faso, a Flash Appeal is under preparation to assist the Government in responding to 93 000 flood-affected people, including 28 000 displaced.

In Ghana, the UN has committed to respond to 75,000 people in most immediate need, which includes an estimated 15,000 children under the age of five.

In Togo, an estimated 60,000 people have lost their homes and the floods and heavy rains have ruined 10 per cent of the farmland and contaminated boreholes- food shortages and disease are likely to occur in the future.

Latest figures from the Government of Burkina Faso report that up to 93,000 people have been affected by flooding.