GLIDE No. TC-2007-000208-BGD
Period covered by this Operations Update: 11 September 2008 to 31 January 2009.
This Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 24,483,160 (USD 22.2 million or EUR 15 million) in cash, kind, or services to support the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) to assist 243,000 families (1,215,000 beneficiaries) over two years.
Appeal coverage: 80%; Total expenditure up to the end of January is CHF 10.3 million (USD 8.9 million or EUR 6.9 million)
A Preliminary Appeal was launched for CHF 3,989,305 on 16 November 2007 to mobilize immediate relief assistance.
CHF 250,000 was allocated from the International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support this operation. Un-earmarked funds to replenish DREF are encouraged.
This operation is to be implemented over a two-year period and is expected to be completed by
November 2009. A final report will be made available three months after the end of the operation.
Summary:
Cyclone Sidr battered the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh affecting 8.9 million people (two million families) in 200 upazillas of 30 districts. The cyclone destroyed 1,522,077 households' livelihood. A year after its devastation, survivors are still struggling for their survival through community resilience provided by support from the Sidr operation as well as from external aids from the Bangladesh government and other humanitarian organizations working towards restoring the affected population through an early to mid-term recovery vision.
The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS), along with International Federation, is continuing the Cyclone Sidr recovery operation with an objective to assist targeted affected communities through a participatory, coordinated, integrated and sustainable approach to recovery. This aims to improve the capacity and living conditions of households, and support the most vulnerable people to become more resilient to future disasters by the end of 2009. After completing relief distribution to 73,320 families in 13 affected districts, the recovery operation is focusing on the four most affected districts of Bagerhat, Barguna (2B), Patuakhali and Pirojpur (2P) where a community-based integrated recovery programme has been designed, and implementation is going on. As was reported in the last operations update the distribution of non-food items could not take place during the reporting period as advised by the government of Bangladesh due to the elections taking place.
Technical verifications for Shelter Objective 1 is being conducted in three districts, while verifications for Shelter Objective 2 have been completed in three districts. Three model shelters have been constructed and handed over to beneficiaries in Patuakhali.
Under the psychosocial support programme (PSP), 13 training sessions for 381 volunteers (including the cyclone preparedness programme (CPP) in seven districts have been completed. As of January 2009, capacity of 22 psychologists has been enhanced as master trainers in the community. The trainer's manual contextualized to the country context has been finalized. PSP has started implementing its activities at Barguna with ten per cent of phase II of the programme achieved. A coordination meeting was held in Dhaka on 14 January 2009 on the Red Cross Red Crescent PSP in Sidr Operations in Bangladesh, attended by Movement partners, partner national societies and many external organizations.
A revised proposal is being prepared following the assessment of the Sidr health programme by the International Federation's Barisal and Dhaka health teams.
The integrated survey for all sectors, including water and sanitation, has been completed in 11 out of 12 clusters, with technical verification completed in two clusters of each of Barguna, Pirojpur and Patuakhali. A total of 20 volunteers have been trained for monitoring and to provide technical support to the beneficiaries. Latrine construction manuals for the beneficiaries have been approved and printed. Procurement of 1,673 latrine construction materials in five clusters of Patuakhali, Barguna and Pirojpur are in process or will follow the award of tenders in February 2009.
The result of technical verification for shelter repair that has been completed in three (Barguna, Patuakhali and Pirojpur) of the four districts indicate that 2,142 families have qualified for toolkit distribution which will start in March 2009 following trainings, for which 28 volunteers have been trained in training of trainers workshops. The beneficiary list will be finalized in February. Under the cash grant mechanism BDT 5,000 (approximately CHF 8) cash will be provided to each beneficiary following successful completion of the training.
The modalities for selection of beneficiaries for the livelihood programme have been finalized, for which six BDRCS staffs and volunteers and 12 community committee members from Barguna had received training.
Cyclone Sidr operations have faced several challenges during the reporting period, among which were disturbances caused due to frequent changes in the BDRCS units' executive committees; security measures applied prior and during the elections; dropout of trained volunteers; and materials supplied not meeting specifications, to name a few.
Since the launch of the appeal, international response has been positive. However, there is still a need for further contributions to enable BDRCS and the International Federation to deliver planned assistance as laid out in this appeal.
The BDRCS and International Federation would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have contributed or pledged to this Appeal.