Sierra Leone: Floods - Sep 2007

Bashiru Brima, 21, is not your regular tailor. Living in the slum community of Cockle Bay, in Sierra Leone's capital city, he has been fashioning bags, mats and hats out of plastic refuse, while educating his fellow villagers to reclaim waste rather than let it pile up.

Period covered by this Ops Update: 11 July-14 August 2008;

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:

A preliminary Emergency …

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

At a regional level, humanitarian partners have for 2008 agreed to focus on five priority areas for humanitarian interventions in West Africa:

- Food Security and Nutrition;

- Rapid Response to Health Emergencies;

- Protection and Population Movements;

- Natural Disaster Preparedness;

- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

Summary of crises with major changes since beginning of 2008

This preliminary Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 750,000 (USD 731,134 or EUR 462,475) in cash, kind, or services to support the National Societies of West and Central Africa to assist 47,500 beneficiaries.

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.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is very concerned about data which suggests severe flooding may occur in West and Central Africa for the second year running.

La Fédération internationale des Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge est extrêmement inquiète d'informations faisant état d'un risque de graves inondations en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre pour la deuxième année consécutive.

Afin de diminuer l'impact des précipitations anormalement importantes qui sont annoncées pour la région par les organismes de prédiction météorologique qui travaillent en partenariat avec la Fédération internationale, des mesures immédiates ont été décidées afin d'éviter l'étendue des dégâts et la misère qui ont frappé la …

Dakar, 18 avril 2008 : Le Bureau Régional des Nations Unies pour la Coordination des Affaires Humanitaires (OCHA) et le Gouvernement du Sénégal (Direction de la Protection Civile du Ministère de l'Intérieur), ont organisé du 17 au 18 avril 2008 à Dakar (Hôtel Novotel), un atelier régional de concertation sur la préparation aux risques d'inondation liés à la saison des pluies 2008 en Afrique de l'ouest.

En Afrique, la violence des catastrophes naturelles est aggravée par la faiblesse des moyens alloués aux systèmes d'alerte précoce, aux moyens de secours et la fragilité …

SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS

- Four French tourists killed in Mauritania

- An anti-tank mine exploded in southern Niger

- The Niger government warns against sabotage acts

- Hostages detained by rebels are to be released on 28 December

- Mali and Guinea make efforts to bring durable solutions to border conflict

- Agricultural production decrease in Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal

- Disarmament launched in Côte d'Ivoire

- Avian flu detected in Benin

- Future opening of an OHCHR office in West Africa

- Dear cost of living cause violent protests in …

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.

Each week, the World Health Organization Health Action in Crises in Geneva produces information highlights on critical health-related activities in countries where there are humanitarian crises. Drawing on the various WHO programmes, contributions cover activities from field and country offices and the support provided by WHO regional offices and headquarters. The mandate of the WHO departments specifically concerned with Emergency and Humanitarian Action in Crises is to increase the effectiveness of the WHO contribution to crisis preparedness and response, transition and recovery.

"The number of people threatened by natural disasters had increased by three times over the last 30 years and the number of people affected by natural disasters doubled every 10 years. Tens of millions of people had been affected this year by floods in countries all over the world. The link between the increase in disasters and climate change, which had been predicted by scientists, was unmistakable. Also, more people were now living in exposed areas. Some of the biggest cities in the world were built in disaster zones.

Around 800,000 people have been affected by floods in 14 countries in West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria, Togo, Sierra Leone, Benin, Ghana and Guinea)(1) .

Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid and Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) jointly warned that "climate change is an increasing threat to development and humanitarian relief efforts" during WFP's Executive Board meeting today.

Mr. Michel, who is in Rome to address WFP's Executive Board, said: "The recent spate of weather-related disasters across the globe sets the alarm bells ringing.

FAITS MARQUANTS

Plus de 800 000 personnes sont affectées par les inondations en Afrique de l'Ouest.

Floods in West Africa

Around 800,000 people have been affected by floods in 14 countries in West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, The Gambia, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Sierra Leone, Benin, Ghana and Guinea) .

FREETOWN, 16 October 2007 (IRIN) - Freetown is one of the wettest capital cities in the world and yet even in the midst of heavy downpours its taps are often dry.

The result is that many neighbourhoods have no piped water at all and women and children must roam the streets with buckets on their heads and in their hands looking for water.

Many residents dig wells in swampy areas or collect water from polluted streams and rivers. Drinking that water often makes people sick.

WEST AFRICA FLOODS

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.

UNICEF IS RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF FLOOD-AFFECTED FAMILIES IN GHANA, TOGO AND BURKINA FASO

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.

1.

This map illustrates the total August rainfall accumulation for East Africa, derived from the CMORPH precipitation dataset at a spatial resolution of approximately 10km for this region, and was calculated using microwave and infrared data from geostationary satellites. It is possible that precipitation levels may have been underestimated for local areas, and is not a substitute for ground station measurements.