Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Mali

Floods: DREF Operation no. MDRML007 Update no. 1

Attachments

Period covered by this update: 05 to 21 October, 2011.

Summary: CHF 264,684 was allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on 08 September, 2011 to support the Mali Red Cross in delivering assistance to some 7,500 beneficiaries.

In August 2011, floods that occurred in Mali affected many locations: Tombouctou (cities of Goundam and Gossi); Mopti (village of Sana); Koro; Sikasso; Kidal; Kayes (Diboly); and Koulikoro (prefecture of Kangaba).

Gossi was particularly affected, experiencing rainfall of 102 mm and significant numbers of affected people.

As northern Mali is a sandy region, most houses are entirely built in banco (mud bricks).
Grouped settlements have no drainage or wastewater systems. These factors contributed to the collapse of many dwellings and material losses, sometimes beyond what would be expected from the amount of rain received locally, due to heavier rains upstream (e.g. Kidal). In other locations (e.g. Diboly/Kayes), torrential rains repeated over a short interval caused the floods. For all concerned locations, 15,415 disaster victims were counted. Material damage was also significant and included loss of livestock, and destruction of market gardens.