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MONITORING MISSION OVERVIEW
From 18 to 26 October 2023, the Canadian Red Cross(CRC) conducted a joint EDAF-DOHE monitoring mission to the Dominican Red Cross (DRC) to review the progress made on the Dominican Republic Floods 2023 DREF Operation (MDRDO015), and to collect insights on CRC contributions to the operation. The review also provided an opportunity to gather learnings on the complementarity between different CRC international response tools supported under the CRC-Global Affairs Canada (GAC) Strategic Partnership (SP).
This monitoring mission, conducted by two female CRC staff and supported in-country by several key DRC team members, included a review of the progress against the planned objectives and outputs according to the operational strategy and the DREF budget to establish key achievements, challenges, and lessons learned within the scope of the DREF Operation up to the date of the monitoring visit. The DREF Operation targeted communities in the following provinces of the Dominican Republic: Azua, Bahoruco, Barahona, Dajabón, Elías Piña and Independencia. These communities were impacted by both the June 2023 Floods and Tropical Storm Franklin (August 2023).
Under the Deployment of Humanitarian Experts (DOHE) Project, the monitoring mission intended to highlight the perspectives of Movement partners regarding Rapid Response delegates deployed to this operation and supported by CRC, complementing delegate feedback collected through the End of Mission process. As such, perspectives of Movement partners may differ from the information collected through other means or by other stakeholders.
The CRC supported the following Rapid Response delegates deployed to this DREF Operation:
By the time the monitoring visit was conducted in October 2023, the DRC team had successfully negotiated the revision of the initial DREF Operation budget and timeline due to the additional meteorological event (TS Franklin) that resulted in compounding damages and humanitarian impacts to the affected communities. The DREF revision work was supported by the IFRC Country Cluster Delegation and one of IFRC Rapid Response Operations Manager delegates. The revision process helped identify several challenges related to data collection and analysis that affected the overall timeliness of the DREF update submission.
Learnings from this review will inform future joint monitoring missions under the Strategic Partnership, provide recommendations on possible improvements of CRC and GAC support to IFRC operations, and share impactful practices employed in the intersectoral response of the National Society. As part of CRC’s commitment to sharing lessons learned within Movement forums and advocate for broader uptake of best practices, CRC will share the key findings of this mission at the IFRC DREF Advisory Group (DAG) and Global Surge Working Group (GSWG).
Situation
Between 2 and 4 June 2023, the Dominican Republic experienced significant urban and rural flooding, overflowing rivers, and landslides. The National Meteorological Office (ONAMET) attributed these events to the presence of a trough at various levels of the troposphere, along with the passage of a tropical wave over the Caribbean Sea. These weather phenomena led to increased humidity and instability, resulting in heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and strong wind gusts. The affected areas spanned several provinces, including Azua, Barahona, Bahoruco, Dajabón, Elías Piña, Espaillat, Independencia, La Vega, Pedernales, Santiago, and Santiago Rodríguez. Initial reports from DRC branches, located in both the northern and southern provinces, indicated varying degrees of damage to residential homes, businesses, crops, and livestock. Additionally, as a precautionary measure, essential services such as water, telecommunications, and electricity were suspended temporarily.
Initial reports from DRC assessments indicated that 84 houses were completely destroyed, while 256 houses suffered partial destruction. Additionally, 1,078 houses had been damaged and were inaccessible due to the flooding. A total of 10 aqueducts were affected. As a result, 95,107 individuals residing in the provinces of Bahoruco, Barahona, Azua, and San José de Ocoa experienced a disruption in their access to water. Rapid assessments demonstrated the need to strengthen the promotion and prevention of emerging diseases typical of floods of this nature, as well as the early identification of health situations that may arise for rapid containment. Among the main concerns were those associated with gastrointestinal diseases, vector-borne diseases and acute respiratory infections, skin diseases, Tetanus, and conjunctivitis.
Furthermore, the provinces affected by the floods of early June 2023 were faced with additional vulnerabilities exacerbated by the passage of TS Franklin that caused intense downpours, strong winds and storm surge during the week of 21 August. Because of these events, almost 100,000 people temporarily lost access to clean water. Additional factors contributing to the emergency response context included increased migratory flow affecting some of the provinces and the response to an industrial explosion in San Cristobal.
The DREF monitoring mission was conducted at DRC HQ level and in several areas targeted by the DREF activities, specifically in the provinces of Barahona and Azua, and included interviews with relevant stakeholder groups and beneficiaries, as part of the post-distribution monitoring and followup.
Response
The Dominican Red Cross (DRC) activated its Crisis Management Room to monitor the actions of the branches in the affected areas. DRC Data Collection and Information Management team completed Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (DANA), as well as a census for humanitarian aid distribution. Branch volunteers supported their communities by working closely with civil protection authorities in evacuations and search and rescue, as well as other assessment and intervention actions. Early actions were carried out within the framework of a Rapid Health Assessment and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Rapid Assessment with activities such as health and hygiene promotion, disease prevention, psychological first aid, and basic first aid for evacuees.
As per the official government requests for support to migrant detention centres in Dajabón and Elías Piña, local DRC branches supported with hygiene promotion and the distribution of prepositioned personal hygiene kits; additionally, 300 mosquito nets, 200 chlorine tablets and 200 jars of disinfectant were delivered in the municipality of Dajabon and 275 chlorine tablets in the Dajabon penitentiary centre. Likewise, two workshops were held and additional 600 chlorine tablets were prepositioned in migrant detention centres.
The operational objective of this DREF Operation was to provide humanitarian assistance to families affected by the floods in the provinces of Azua, Bahoruco, Barahona, Dajabón, Elías Piña and Independencia. The DRC aimed to assist a total of 10,000 people (2,000 families)2 through the implementation of actions under Shelter, Health, and WASH as well as dissemination of key messages with a Protection, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI) and Community, Engagement and Accountability (CEA) approach. The IFRC allocated CHF 281,760 to respond to Dominican Republic Floods June 2023. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Country Cluster Delegation (CCD) remained in close contact with the DRC. The DRC is also part of the sectoral health and water, sanitation and hygiene promotion roundtables, and coordinates with the UNICEF and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) representations.
DREF Operation Revision
Following the passage of the TS Franklin during the month of August 2023, the DRC rapid response teams were mobilized in coordination with the national EOC at the HQ level. The mobile teams complemented civil defence efforts by assisting in evacuations. Reports from DRC branches indicated varying degrees of damage to residential homes, businesses, crops, and livestock. DRC launched a DREF Operation Update and a DREF revision request in which the initial operation was extended to 30 November 2023, with the corresponding ask for additional funding for a total of CHF 498,654 and a revised operational strategy.
Considering that the DRC was already responding in the six of the provinces further affected by the TS Franklin (Azua, Bahoruco, Barahona, Dajabón, Elías Piña and Independencia), the National Society coordinated with the National Government to scale up its response in these areas to address the additional needs, while the Government focused on the additional provinces affected by the tropical storm. Consequently, it is important to highlight that although the budget increased, the target population remained the same as in the original DREF operational plan.
Several modifications were made to the original operational plan, including:
- Shelter: adjustment of budget allocation for shelter kits - allocation decreased.
- Livelihoods and CVA: launch of the multipurpose cash transfer program (CVA) to 500 households, to empower the affected individuals in prioritizing and addressing their distinct needs; with functional markets, injecting cash will stimulate local economy, thus extending the benefit to other stakeholders. The specialized livelihoods assessment was removed from the budget; nevertheless, the significance of livelihood programming was not dismissed.
Integrating this focus is seen as vital within the context of the CVA approach and the NS endeavours in the target regions, forming an integral part of the broader relief and recovery initiatives, as feasible; - allocation increased. - Health: Within the context of heightened threat from dengue and malaria during this same period across the country, including within the provinces affected, mosquito nets were distributed to affected families as part of the kits designed for the prevention of vectorborne diseases. Consequently, NS included in the budget 2,000 nets to replenish its stock-allocation increased.
- WASH: the costs of family hygiene kits and water buckets were adjusted based on actual expenditures; the replenishment of 10,000 jerrycans was included; - allocation increased.
- Additional Surge Requests: Operations Manager - 3rd rotation, CVA Coordinator- 3rd rotation, CEA Officer - 1st rotation and Data Visualization IM officer - 1st rotation.