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In Brief
Appeal No. MDRMG002; Operations Update no. 3; Period covered: 18 April to 8 May 2007.
Appeal coverage: 88.4%; Outstanding needs: CHF 233,308 (USD 192,817 or EUR 142,261).
Appeal history:
- Preliminary Emergency Appeal was launched on 22 March 2007 for CHF 773,262 (USD 637,935 or EUR 477,765) to assist 32,000 beneficiaries for six months.
- Operations Update no. 1, issued on 22 March 2007, focused on assessments conducted by Malagasy Red Cross Society, the Field Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) and other stakeholders.
- Revised Emergency Appeal, launched on 12 April 2007, increased the Appeal budget to CHF 2,005,707 (USD 1,649,430 or EUR 1,238,090) and increased the number of beneficiaries to 60,000.
- Operations Update no. 2 was issued on 23 April 2007.
- Disaster Relief Emergency Funds (DREF) allocated: CHF 185,000.
Related Annual Appeal: Indian Ocean sub-regional programmes; Appeal 2006-2007 (Appeal MAA64002)
Operational Summary: Two Emergency Response Unit (ERU) rotations have taken place and the new teams are operational in Sofia Region. The teams are working with the Regional Disaster Response Team (RDRT) specialist deployed to Madagascar and 160 volunteers from the Malagasy Red Cross Society.
Two separate consignments of non-food items, procured using the funds allocated from the International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF), have been received.
This operation is aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".
Global Agenda Goals:
- Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.
- Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.
- Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.
- Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.
Background
Cyclone Indlala hit the north-eastern coast of the Indian Ocean Island of Madagascar on Thursday, 15 March 2007. With strong winds of up to 200 kilometers/hour (km/h), the cyclone ravaged the immediate area in its path (mainly Maroantsetra) and left considerable damage on the northeast and northwest regions. Cyclone Indlala was the fifth cyclone to have hit Madagascar within the past months: Cyclone Bondo made landfall on 25 December 2006; Cyclone Clovis on 3 January 2007; Cyclone Favio on 18 January 2007; and Cyclone Gamede on 26 February 2007. On 3 April 2007, a sixth cyclone (Cyclone Jaya), hit the country, causing further damage and displacement.
According to preliminary estimates by humanitarian agencies, immediate needs of those affected/displaced included safe water and sanitation, health care, food distribution, non-food items (NFI), and basic shelter items. There were fears that stagnant water in the flood-affected areas could increase the potential for outbreaks of Dengue Fever. Responding to immediate needs, the International Federation released CHF 185,000 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Malagasy Red Cross Society's (MRCS) initial response (a CHF 35,000 allocation was released from DREF in February 2007 for cyclone preparedness). On 13 March 2007, a Regional Disaster Response Team (RDRT) specialist was deployed by the Federation to conduct a preliminary assessment, and was later reinforced with two Field Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) members to support the MRCS in assessing the situation and planning its response. On the background of the preliminary assessment, a Preliminary Emergency Appeal was launched on 22 March 2007 seeking CHF 773,262 in support of 32,000 beneficiaries for six months.
Detailed assessments done by UN agencies, CARE International, Médecins du Monde (MDM) and by both FACT and Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform (PIROI)1 revealed that communities lost their belongings, including clothes, kitchen tools, stocks of food and seeds, crops, and farming and fishing tools. Furthermore, the effects of successive heavy rains and floods destroyed the little coping capacities of the communities. In addition, a severe food crisis was foreseen in the coming months as 70 to 80 percent of rice crops had been destroyed. Though access to vulnerable groups was initially very difficult, it is now improving.
Based on the results of the detailed assessments, the Emergency Appeal was revised (on 12 April 2007); the appeal budget was increased to 2 million (USD 1.64 million or EUR 1.24 million). Through the revised appeal, the Federation is assisting the MRCS in its relief operation, targeting 60,000 affected persons (of whom 42,385 had their houses damaged) for six months, through the provision of food, non-food items and shelter items.
For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:
- In Madagascar: Ratsimbazafy Fanja Nantenaina, Secretary General, Malagasy Red Cross Society, Antananarivo; email: crm@wanadoo.mg; telephone + 261.20.222.21.11; fax + 261.20.226.67.39
- In Mauritius: Susanna Cunningham, Head of Sub-Regional Office for the Indian Ocean Islands, Mauritius; email: susanna.cunningham@ifrc.org; telephone + 230.454.69.34; Mobile + 230.252.08.55
- In Kenya: Per Jensnäs, Federation Head of Eastern Africa Regional Delegation, Nairobi; email: per.jensnaes@ifrc.org; telephone +254.20.283.51.24; fax +254.20.271.84.15 or Youcef Ait-Chellouche, Acting Disaster Management Coordinator, Eastern Africa Regional Delegation, Nairobi; email: youcef.aitchellouche@ifrc.org; telephone +254.20.283.52.11; fax +254.20.271.27.77
- In Geneva: Amna Al Ahmar, Federation Regional Officer for East Africa, Africa Department; email: amna.alahmar@ifrc.org; telephone +41.22.730.4427 ; fax +41.22.733.03.95
All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for a full description of the National Society profile, please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org