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Uganda

Uganda Logistics Cluster: Teso Region Emergency Flood Response - Bulletin #2

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Highlights:

1. To date; a total of 479.5mt of relief supplies and 541 passengers have been airlifted by the helicopters into inaccessible areas

2. Air lift capacity has been temporarily reduced following the grounding of an Mi-8MTVs as a result of a fuel contamination incident.

3. The NFI component of the interagency warehouse facility in Soroti is now full following the arrival of UNICEF items for distribution in the Teso Region.

4. The Minister of Public Works, John Nasasira, announced the closure of the Cheptui and Awoja Bridges in the flood affected area.

1. Coordination:

The WFP led Logistics Cluster through teams in Soroti and Kampala continue to provide logistical support as a cross cutting service to the other clusters. Key components of the support include; facilitating coordination amongst partners, information management/mapping of logistical services, managing interagency helicopter assets and provision of interagency warehousing. The user group held it’s third meeting on the 21st October in Soroti; the priorities for the different categories of essential relief items to be moved via air cargo movement requests were reaffirmed as follows: i.) Health supplies, ii.) Water/Sanitation related supplies, iii.) Food iv.) Shelter /other NFI.

The WFP led Logistics Cluster is also seeking additional funds to ensure the continued availability of helicopter assets to support essential distributions in the inaccessible areas of the Teso Region. To date, funding has been provided by the UK Department For International Development (DFID), the Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF) managed by OCHA, and by Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRSA) through staff secondment, additionally WFP has also provided funds on a reimbursable basis from its own Immediate Response Assistance (IRA) fund to facilitate the Cluster’s operations. However, the Logistics Cluster still remains greatly under-funded against the US$ 4, 976,749 Flash Appeal target.

2. Interagency Air Operations

The last week has seen a considerable increase in the operational tempo following the deployment of the three WFP/UNHAS Mi-8MTVs to Soroti. Since the last bulletin, the total of air cargo delivered has increased from 126.6mt to an overall total of 479.5mt since operations commenced on the 18th September. Both the number of missions and areas reached have also significantly increased, from 101 to 286 and 23 to 72 respectively. Additionally 541 personnel have been flown into inaccessible areas to assist in distributions and conduct assessment missions by the WFP/UNHAS helicopters. The summary chart (see Figure 1 below) illustrates the increase in the operational tempo since the arrival of the three Mi-8MTV helicopters.


The operational capacity of the air lift based in Soroti is expected to be reduced to two helicopters until at least 27th October following a fuel contamination incident grounding one Mi-8MTV. UNHAS are currently conducting an investigation to determine the source of the contamination to prevent further disruption to the air operation. The WFP led Logistics Cluster with support from the local authorities is currently undertaking improvements to the main Katakwi airlift site to ensure that helicopter landing pads are weather-proofed and space on site increased to accommodate an additional helicopter landing pad to facilitate more efficient air operations.