ActionAid Emergencies Monthly Update Jul-Aug 2001

Welcome to the July/August edition of the Monthly Emergencies Update. The past month has seen considerable flooding in Orissa, India and Pakistan and Ghana. Updates also include progress on the Sneh Samudaya programme in Gujarat in response to the earthquake, a visit by Princess Anne in Mozambique, the latest Maoist insurgency in Nepal and drought in Central America. Please click on the items below to take to the corresponding update:
Floods in Orissa

• General Situation
• ActionAid India (Bhubaneshwar) Strategy
• Steps taken by ActionAid India

Floods in Pakistan

• General situation
• ActionAid Pakistan

Gujarat Earthquake

• Progress
• Child centred activities
• Food and Nutritional Support
• Medical and psychosocial support
• Community shelter programme
• Livelihood support programme
• Food for work
• Rights based advocacy and rights awareness
• Statement of expenditure

Nepal - Maoist insurgency

• General situation
• Attack on ActionAid Office

Ghana - Floods in Accra

• General situation
• Effects of flooding on the country

Mozambique - Post flood emergency

Central America - Drought

FLOODS IN ORISSA

General Situation

More than 7 million people have been marooned since the devastating floods lashed coastal Orissa in the first week of July. Media reports claim the flooding of the two river systems (Mahanadi and Brahmani) has put most of the 30 districts under water. The reports also claim about 100 deaths, though the toll could be higher with the epidemic taking over and many areas still cut off from the communication network.

This has been one of the worst floods in Orissa, damaging property, livestock and reducing thousands to starvation. The last devastating flood occurred in 1982. Though Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made an aerial survey of the affected areas (three weeks after the floods hit Orissa), the centre and the state have not come up with any concrete crisis management plans.

This is when thousands in Jajpur, Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Khurda are still in shelter homes, schools and highways. The television media continues to depict many flood victims living under torn tarpaulin sheets, which they got during the 1999 cyclone. Preliminary assessments made by ActionAid team members indicate that in Jagatsinghpur alone about 80 percent of standing crops have been damaged. The high water level is not expected to recede for another month. Again it is the small and marginal farmers who are shattered and have no livelihood options left.

The Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission (ODMM) last week released a report, which confirmed government failure in handling the crisis of this magnitude.

Excerpts from the report

• Mahanga block - 13 Gram Panchayats (GPs) are under severe attack of diarrhea.
• Tirtol (Dipanchal) - Communication links cut off and no health team has reached this area. Most affected are Amberi, Samantarapur, Tartol, Kolar, Sankheswar, Danilo, Kanimal and Krishnanandapur.
• Ganiya -Tubewell water has got contaminated leading to massive shortage of drinkable water and massive rise in water-borne diseases. In most areas people have died of snakebites, as no antidote was available.

There is massive damage to livestock and almost no areas have any animal care facilities.

Breaches have caused further devastation in at least 38 embankments

Relief is mismanaged: Total mismanagement of relief at the block levels. There are administrative bottlenecks in collecting and distributing relief materials.

• Old census data (1981) creates hurdles in distributing relief materials.
• Kerosene, fuel used for cooking is in short supply.

ActionAid India (Bhubaneshwar) Strategy

• Coordinate with government to strengthen relief services.
• Reach out to the most vulnerable communities
• Mobilise funds from overseas
• Cater to immediate health needs of humans and livestock
• Consider livelihood issues in the affected places within DAs .

Steps taken by ActionAid India

Volunteers in ActionAid India are already stationed in Jagatsinghpur, Erasama, Khurda, Jajpur, Kendrapada and Puri

The regional office is coordinating with agencies like CARE, OXFAM and government for mobilisation and distribution of resources in the affected areas.

An assessment format has been finalised along with CARE, OXFAM, CRS and SCF.

Relief measures continue both in affected DAs and other areas like Kendrapada and Astaranga and Puri. Temporary shelters have been provided in 3 GPs in Khurda and 4 GPs in Puri.

15 quintals of beaten rice, molasses and biscuits besides voluntary support has been provided in Barchana and the Bari blocks of Jajpur district.

ActionAid India is supporting 1000 children in the Astarang block

AAI has provided FMD vaccines for two cattle camps in Kendrapada district.

In the first phase, a team of doctors, veterinarians, and volunteers provided medical relief in Jagatsinghpur and in the second phase in the districts of Puri, Khurda, Kendrapada through partner BGVS. In the third phase, medical teams have been sent to Banki block in Cuttack district and to Barchana and Bari block in Jajpur district.

Assist ODMM (Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission) with medical support.

• £30,000 has been released from the Emergency Contingency Fund to go towards AA India's response.

FLOODS IN PAKISTAN

General situation

The northern parts of Pakistan have been devastated by flash and rain floods as a result of heavy monsoon rains last week. The unprecedented rains caused havoc in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, both these cities received 620 millimetres of rain in a single day which has broken the 100 year old record. Many houses at the sides of Nallah Leh (a ravine, which passes through Rawalpindi) were swept away as a result of this heavy downpour.

The death toll has reached 232 including 48 in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The worst affected areas includes Rawalpindi, Islamabad and some parts of North Western Frontier Province including Mansera and Dir. People in the low-lying areas and in the areas adjacent to ravines have lost their houses and all types of belongings. The immediate needs of the people are shelter, safe drinking water, medicines, food and bedding.

The Pakistan army is undertaking some relief activities in the area but the amount of relief being given is far less than the actual needs of the people. Some other organisations including Oxfam, other local organisations and philanthropists are also providing relief at a limited scale.

ActionAid Pakistan

The families of some of the ActionAid Pakistan staff members were also affected in Rawalpindi. Responding to this emergency situation, ActionAid Pakistan staff members have set up a relief camp in the affected area of Rawalpindi and we are providing water and medical aid to the affected people.

Medical camps are being set up at different places where people are being given free medicines. Water is also being provided in mobile water tanks.

The affected population are in need of relief to be given on a larger scale. Considering the extent of damage and the poor economic condition of the people, the process of recovery is likely to be slow and may take years.

ActionAid Pakistan has already launched an appeal for flood relief to the other development organisations in Pakistan and the civil society at large to join hands in order to alleviate the sufferings of affected people.

The situation has really improved to a great extent ActionAid Pakistan's greatest fear was that of health problems, drinking water, food, and people's being traumatized by current disaster. The relief activities carried out by many organizations have improved the situation on health, food and water needs and people are feeling confident and starting to regain their strengths for their rehabilitation.

GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE

Sneh Samudaya - "Caring Community " ActionAid India's collective response working with eight local organizations to ensure rehabilitation within families and their own communities, of the most vulnerable among the survivors of the Gujarat earthquake. These include children who are left without adult protection, single women (including widows), disabled people and old people who are deprived of the care of their families. This process of community based rehabilitation (CBR) is an attempt to ensure the protection and rights of those who are most at risk and those who are also most likely to be forgotten in the process of relief and rehabilitation. Sneh Samudaya is also an attempt to influence the state policy with regard to these groups, particularly in the context of disaster.

Progress

Sneh Samudaya's interventions cover 127 worst hit villages from four Talukas viz. Anjar, Bhachau, Bhuj and Rapar of Bhuj district. To date 90 community centers have been built. The following outlines the broad areas of Sneh Samudaya's interventions:

• Child centred activities
• Providing psychosocial counseling
• Food and nutrition support to the most vulnerable families
• Medical support to injured and disabled
• Community based and community contributory shelter programme
• Livelihood support programme
• Food for work programme
• Making community aware about their rights and taking sides to enable people to practice to their rights with all human dignity.

2. Reaching out to the most vulnerable families: Collectively we have been able to reach 128 worst hit villages, which have been selected on the basis of certain parameters for example no. of casualties, extent of damage, no. of injured/disabled, no. of widows, majority of Kolis, Dalits, Muslims and other deprived castes; distance from the main road etc.

Simultaneously, along with the process of selecting villages, we also started the process of selecting village volunteers who are more popularly known as Sneh Karmis here.

All village volunteers stay in villages: an important and integral part of our intervention. Since they stay in villages and have initiated certain community level process, they have been able to build up a close rapport with the village community and that has been very helpful in terms of reaching out to the most vulnerable families. In order to identify the individual problems of vulnerable families and to reach out to them in time and along with a right kind of intervention, we have started close monitoring of all identified vulnerable families. We call this process of monitoring; "Social Watch".

3. Building local capacity, strengthening Community's indigenous knowledge base and promoting local leadership: Efforts are being made to educate and make the local community more aware about their rights and entitlements. Through various educative processes we have been trying to enable community to take informed decisions regarding all interventions, whereby they are a stakeholder and are able to negotiate with external intervening agencies on equal terms. In most of the villages covered by Sneh samudaya's intervention, the process of forming a village committee with substantial representation from marginalized sections, that would take up a leadership role, has been started and in some of the villages committees have already been formed. These committees are actively participating in the decision-making processes at village level and are also taking up various responsibilities related to the rehabilitation of their own community. However these processes still need to be strengthened from the gender equity point of view.

4. Strengthening "Caring responsibility" of community and building Social Capital: Constant efforts have been made to bring people together, through various social processes whereby they can collectively share their problems & grief, reflect back and take up collective action to rebuild their lives. So far with the help of local communities we have been able to set up Sneh Kendras in 90 villages. These Sneh Kendras are in the center of all our community-based interventions. All these Sneh Kendras having semi permanent structures, that are being used for multipurpose activities like meeting place for villagers, recreational center, day care center, information resource center etc.

5. Sectoral Progress:

5.1 Child centred activities: There are two major initiatives taken by Sneh Samudaya under child centred activities:

Day Care Centres: The objective being to create an enabling environment for the children within their own community so that they could cope up with the post disaster situation in a better way. So far Sneh Samudaya has been able to start day care centers in 96 villages whereby a total of 5784 children are coming regularly. On an average there are 60 children coming to each day care center.

Activities include singing songs, creative dramatics, origami, pottery making, crafts training, indoor games etc. Apart from these activities, children were also taken out on short tours to see the historical places. Exchange programmes were also organized whereby children from one village went to another village and participated in cultural programmes. All these recreational activities are having a very positive impact on the children as it has been proved as a very good therapy to overcome children's trauma.

At most of the centers, with the help of doctors from local PHC and other private hospitals, regular health check up camps for children are being organized.

At all day care centers regular psychosocial counseling services are being provided to children, both in the forms of individual counseling as well as group counseling by trained psychosocial counselors.

Child Rights and rehabilitation of the most vulnerable children: Constant efforts are being made in order to sensitize government officials, NGO functionaries and local community regarding child rights particularly in the context of disaster situation.

5.2 Providing food and nutritional support to the most vulnerable families and children: The idea behind it was to extend food and nutritional support to vulnerable families till the time they are able to create an alternative support system for themselves. This support is meant for a short period. Our Sneh Karmis have made a list of vulnerable families who need food and nutritional support. It includes widows without any support, old age people, and injured and disabled people. These families are given food packets on a regular basis. Constant monitoring of such family is being done by our Sneh Karmis.

5.3 Providing medical and psychosocial counseling support: With the help of Handicap International and other local organizations and doctors constant efforts are being made to reach to the injured and disabled identified by a detailed survey. Several medical camps have been organized, an ambulance service has been started which is equipped with physiotherapists and social workers visiting rural villages. Physiotherapists from Handicap International are visiting Sneh Samudaya villages regularly and providing physiotherapy services to the needy people.

Regular group and individual psychosocial counseling services are being provided to all needy persons and families. At all day care centers regular group counseling services are provided and along with this individual counseling is also been provided to those children who are in severe trauma. So far we have been able to provide psychosocial counseling to 5784 children and 684 adults from various backgrounds.

5.4 Community contributory shelter programme: This programme was initiated with the objective of providing interim shelter to the most needy families who don't have any other support. After a process of community consultation four different models of interim shelter were evolved. These all four models of interim shelter were based on the following principles:

• These shelters should be earthquake resistant.
• Design of these interim shelters should incorporate community's viewpoints so that people can relate to it in a better way.
• These interim shelters should be built in such a way that people can upgrade it later according to their needs.
• These shelter should be disabled friendly
• These shelters should be built in situ.

Following are the four models of interim shelter:

1. Bamboo shelter (see photo above)

2. Behavioural Science Centre model: An iron frame upper structure with tiles and a stone and cement or mud lower part.

3. Bhoonga: The upper structure is built of bamboo & tiles and the lower part is built of a mud and stone wall.

4. Unnati's model: No structure or design was evolved rather people's initiatives regarding construction of their own houses were supported largely by providing them monetary, material and technical support. This model is very much community contributory model.

So far we have been able to provide constructed shelter to 565 families while 1147 families have been given material and monetary support along with the technical inputs to construct their houses.

389 widows, 8 orphans, 80 old age people, 136 poor families have been supported through our shelter programme.

5.5 Livelihood support programme: Our livelihood support programme is based on the following principles:

• It should be based on the traditional skills and indigenous knowledge base
• It should be sustainable
• It should cover those who are the most vulnerable
• Its process should be educative

After an extensive livelihood survey along with community consultation processes, 16 women and 3 male Self Help Groups were formed. These SHGs have started savings and credit activities. These women groups have been given certain amount from Sneh Samudaya as a revolving fund to start enterprises to support their livelihood.

5.6 Food for Work programme: Food for work programme was started with two basic objectives:

• To generate employment for the needy people
• To create community assets through this work

After community consultation Sneh Samudaya has started a number of land based and labor intensive activities including cleaning of debris (see photo above), land leveling, desiltation of ponds, construction of link roads, repairing of ponds, cleaning of religious places etc. In all villages where food for work activities have been started, village committees have taken up the responsibilities of selection of beneficiaries, making payment to laborers and monitoring the work. So far we have been able to generate employment of 22868 person days wherein all together 2858 families have benefited.

5.7 Rights based advocacy and making community aware about their rights: In last six months, we have been able to help 589 widows, 53 orphans, 208 injured & disabled and 40 migrants in fighting for their own rights. Some of them have got their entitlements but still a large number of cases are under process. Our Sneh Karmis are doing regular follow up of such cases. Our Sneh Karmis have been instrumental in identifying such cases whereby people's rights have been denied. Training workshops for the Sneh Karmis on people's rights and legal issues have been organized in which the following advocacy issues were identified:

1) Right to Information 2) Transparency and people's participation in reconstruction work - shelter survey and other activities 3) implementation of various compensation schemes and programmes. 4) Protection of the rights of the vulnerable persons.

A book containing all the earthquake related rehabilitation packages and schemes has been published in association with a Delhi based NGO-MARG. The information in the book is being disseminated to the villages through Sneh Karmis who use it in their follow up work on legal rights issues. Several advocacy issues have been identified in the housing related interventions the main one being; how to enable people to plan, design and construct an earthquake resistant house.

Sneh Samudaya believes that the earthquake situation should be converted into an opportunity to develop a more equitous relations amongst the communities. Awareness raising on rights and legal issues is an attempt to empower vulnerable and unorganized communities to negotiate their interests with others and influence the state policy in their direction.

Statement of expenditure (as on June 30, 2001).

For a full version of this Gujarat earthquake progress update, please contact Louise Mellotte louisem@actionaid.org.uk

NEPAL - MAOIST INSURGENCY

General Situation

In the last month, Maoists have sped up their action against the government's machinery in Nepal. On July 12, 2001, the Maoists attacked a police post in Holeri VDC of Rolpa District in western Nepal where there was a rigorous fight between police force and the Maoist rebels. The police force subsequently surrendered and the Maoist rebels abducted 71 policemen. In an attempt to free the policemen, the governemt of Nepal sent armed forces to capture the place where Maoists were suspected to be hiding with the kidnapped policemen. However, despite a week long effort, they failed to release the policemen from Maoist control as they had already changed their hiding place. During this attempt a helicopter used by the army was also damaged by the Maoist rebels while trying to land in the suspected area. As the situation was getting worse and due to the pressure from opponents as well as from within his own party, the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala resigned from his post and Mr Sher Bahadur Deuba has been sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Nepal from the same Nepali Congress party.

On July 22, the Maoist guerillas again attacked a police striking force based in Pandusen VDC of Bajura district in Western Nepal. At least 17 policemen are reported to have been killed in crossfire which lasted for about three consecutive hours. According to reports, five policemen have been mortally injured and three are missing out of the 53 who were stationed at the post. A local source reports that at least 10 rebels were also killed and 30-34 seriously injured in the incidents. It is also said that all the weapons belonging to the police striking force were seized by the rebels.

Afterwards the newly appointed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba appealed to the Maoist leaders not to take any further actions given the strained political circumstances in the country and has also given necessary directives to the government forces to stop their actions too. The Prime Minister has assured to take other immediate steps for the creation of an environment of trust and has also appealed for rendering a political outlet through dialogues.

In response to the Prime Minister's appeal, the President of the CPN-Maoist, Prachanda, has given directives to all Maoist militias in the country to stop all planned arms assaults for the time being in order to create an appropriate environment for talks.

Attack on ActionAid Office

On July 11 there was a Maoist Attack in DA-4 Kalika project office. A total of around 150 Maoist militias came to the office and took the office key from the watch person. They then proceeded to carry the office files, chairs, tables and racks out of the office and burnt them. The rebels also took a computer and printer. This is the second time they have attacked the Kalika field office.

The NNSWA (Nepal National Social Welfare Association) team visited the field office on 13th of July 2001. The following action plan was agreed:

• NNSWA will discuss with the Local Maoist authority as far as possible about their action with reasons why.
• Discuss with VDC representatives and local people to map out their perceptions and further continuity of the programme.
• Shift the field office from Kalika to Mahendranagar until the situation is normal.
• Prepare the report about the event within a week and submit the report to WRO.

At present, there is a tension in the Mid and Far Western region due to Rolpa military action against Maoist Guerrillas

Our project activities are being carried out smoothly despite the fact that threats are still happening not only for ActionAid Nepal but also for many other INGOs.

GHANA - FLOODS IN ACCRA

General situation

On Wednesday, 27th June 2000, severe floods resulting from 6 hours of rain overwhelmed the city of Accra. This exposed the woeful inadequacies of the city's drainage systems and poor urban planning as the floods covered all the low-lying areas and filled many houses.

The flooding was so bad in some areas that people had to climb onto the roofs of their houses to avoid drowning. Cross-country vehicles were submerged in low-lying areas. The military, police and fire services were marshalled to rescue people stranded on rooftops and ferry them to safety in boats.

Particularly affected by the heavy rain were the densely populated, low-income neighborhoods where the drains were choked with rubbish and buildings had been constructed across waterways. The Minister for Housing Mr. Kwamena Bartels blamed poor drainage and poor city planning as the cause of the disaster.

The floods clearly revealed Ghana's unpreparedness for natural disaster. Mr. Kwasi Owusu Acheaw Director at the National Disaster Management Organization said, "It's a really terrible situation and we are badly equipped for this sort of emergency".

Effects of the floods on the country

1. Deaths

Officially 11 persons have been reported drowned and several others wounded a lot more people have been reported missing including children less than one year.

2. Displacements

The floods have displaced over 100,000 people. This might not be an accurate figure because a lot more would have moved to stay with relations in other parts of the city. In certain cases the floods filled up to waist level in most rooms, which were bailed as soon as the rain subsided.

3. Damage to property and infrastructure

The damage to property and infrastructure has been estimated at about seven billion cedi (US $ 1million). Bridges and roads were totally washed away. The walls of many homes in the Alajo, East Legon, Maamobi, Aweshie, Abeka and Madina neighbourhoods were broken. Furniture and electronic equipment were damaged by the floodwaters.

4. Outbreak of epidemic

The most urgent threat is the possibility of an outbreak of water-borne diseases, such as cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid, due to a lack of clean water, OCHA said in its situation report. A few cholera cases have been detected and these have been treated.

5. Immediate assistance

Water sources have been purified with chlorine provided by UNICEF. They have also donated 20 water tanks with a capacity of some 7,000 litres each. These have been sent to the most distressed areas. Ghana's National Disaster Management Office (NADMO) has already distributed relief items such as tents, blankets, and kitchen tools some of the affected people.

The Inter-NGO consortium of which ActionAid is a part has made various donations to the tune of about $10,000. The Government of Japan has offered to help rebuild bridges, schools and clinics. Government officials have began assessing the flood damage to infrastructure and would complete soon.

The Ghanaian government has announced the setting up of a committee chaired by Minister of Presidential Affairs Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey to see how the affected people can be helped to resettle. Its immediate aim is to provide materials to rehabilitate damaged homes, and blankets and clothes for the many who have lost all or most of their belongings.

Nine interagency teams, including several UN agencies, NGOs and NADMO have been formed to evaluate damage and assess the various needs of those affected, OCHA reported. WHO and UNICEF, which are on the assessment teams, have made US $20,000 available for the provision of water, drugs, health education and shelter. However more aid is needed, including food, clothing, medical supplies, and water tankers.

MOZAMBIQUE - POST FLOOD EMERGENCY

Post-flood recovery work continues in Zambezia and Maputo provinces. Most of the current work is being carried funded by money from the DEC.

ActionAid Mozambique is currently carrying out a review of its emergency programme with the support of the Emergency Unit. Pippa Howell recently visited Mozambique to work with the Zambezia team to review the 2001 ActionAid's flood response with the Maputo team. This is the part of the ActionAid emergency impact review exercise. The aim of the exercise is to put together (to document) all the emergencies experiences taking place in many countries for sharing and learning from one another.

In the Zambezia Province, ActionAid is implementing a WFP food aid programme in Nante locality, in Maganja da Costa, where our DA2 is located. However, there have been delays in the programme due to WFP's failure to deliver the food stocks within the planned schedule.

ActionAid Mozambique participated in a meeting organised by the Mozambican Government and the UN, held in Beira City, central Mozambique on the 26th and 27th July. The purpose of the meeting was to get those who have been involved in the recent emergencies in an in depth reflection on this disaster's management, looking at preparedness, response, coordination and monitoring to serve as a basis for an evaluation and improvement of strategies to deal with future emergencies.

Princess Anne visited Mozambique on a State visit between the 23rd and 26th July. She visited several economic and social projects and meetings held with government and non-governmental institutions, including a visit to an ActionAid's post-flood rehabilitation project in Manhica District, Maputo Province. The purpose of the visit was to allow Princess Anne to see the type of work that DEC agencies were undertaking post floods using DEC money donated by the UK public. The feedback received by the visit was very positive as can be seen by the following comments from her lady-in-waiting to Roberto Luis, AA Mozambique: 'Her Royal Highness was delighted to view the borehole and hand pumps and the baeutifully tidy house which she entered. The Princess was fascinated to view the sweet potato project..........she was most impressed by all the tremendous work that had been done to help the community since the devastating floods'.

CENTRAL AMERICA - DROUGHT

Central America is suffering from an ongoing drought. This is particularly affecting crops especially corn, beans and maize. There are reports that up to 1.4 million farmers and their families are running short of food with 775,798 facing severe food security problems (WFP's Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean).

WFP are distributing food aid to 405,000 people who have lost between 50%-100% of their crops. It is estimated that they will need at least 16,500 metric tons of food to feed the most vulnerable over the next three months.

A meeting is being held this week in San Salvador of the Ministers of Agriculture of the four Central American countries currently affected by the drought.

Newspaper articles on cases in the East of Guatemala reflect losses of about 90% in black beans in the first harvest. The forecast is for low rain until the end of August, which will affect second round of crops.

ActionAid Guatemala's partner organisations are monitoring the situation in the Development Areas.