Attachments
Reporting Period: 1 May – 16 September 2024
Situation in Numbers
- 179,949 people affected
- 1 56,280 women 51,723 men
- 71,946 children affected
- 62 deaths
- 118 injured
- 93 schools used as shelters
Highlights
- As of 9 September, the floods have worsened considerably in all 19 of Mali’s regions. The regions of Ségou (39,245), Timbuktu (36,317), Gao (19,238), Bamako (17,127), and Mopti (1,782) have recorded the highest number of people affected.
- There have been 374 incidences of flooding and 29,644 buildings have collapsed across Mali.
- The Government declared a national flood disaster on 23 August 2024.
- The floods have caused significant damage, displaced thousands of people, destroyed homes, livestock, and crops, and disrupted essential services such as water, sanitation, education and health.
- Social infrastructure is severely damaged, and 93 schools are sheltering displaced people. Primary schools are the most impacted. The regions of Segou (30 schools) and Bandiagara (23 schools) have the highest number of primary schools occupied by people displaced by the disaster.
- Inadequate facilities in temporary shelters pose protection concerns, particularly for women and children.
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
The floods in Mali represent a serious humanitarian concern, causing massive destruction and exacerbating the vulnerabilities of populations already made vulnerable by the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel.
In addition, climate change is exacerbating these floods, compromising the well-being and survival of children and women. These floods have displaced thousands of people, forcing families to leave their homes and take refuge in temporary shelters, such as schools or makeshift camps.
In 2024, the flood season started early, with significant flooding in July, mainly affecting the Segou region. The most affected regions initially were Ségou and the district of Bamako. In July, the Government updated its "National Flood Preparedness and Management Plan" with the support of UNICEF.
UNICEF, through its field offices, is supporting the government response to rapidly provide life-saving services to affected children and families, by distributing emergency supplies, such as WASH kits, temporary water supplies, psychosocial support to affected people, and the installation of Child Friendly Spaces and mobile clinics.
Programme Response
In this context, UNICEF has accelerated support to the immediate response in the areas already affected by flooding while also strengthening preventive and contingency measures in areas not currently affected by floods. UNICEF has emergency materials pre-positioned across Mali. However, as these are being distributed to respond to the floods, a shortage of such supplies is expected later in the year for the ongoing responses to other ongoing humanitarian crises.
UNICEF being the lead agency for the Nutrition and Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) Clusters, co-lead for the Education Cluster, and lead of the and Child Protection Sub-Cluster (Area of Responsibility) provided the following cross-sectoral assistance;
WASH: Some 33,118 people have been assisted with emergency Non-Food Item kits in the regions affected by the floods in the regions of Mopti, Ségou, Bandiagara, Gao, Kayes, Kita and Sikasso, including WASH and dignity kits, heavy duty tents and water tanks. Around 2000 people have been provided with drinking water through emergency water trucking.
Health and Nutrition: The main activity is the organization of mobile clinics in areas of Gao affected by the floods.
Education: Advocacy is ongoing by cluster members to prioritize support for disaster victims in schools with a view to resettling them outside school sites. This includes working with the Academy of Education (AE) to instruct school principals and school committees to convince affected persons to leave school before the start of the new school year. Advocacy is also focused on prioritizing occupied schools for back-to-learning activities and the distribution of school supplies/equipment.
Child Protection has deployed three mobile Child-Friendly Spaces to support recreational activities for affected children in Gao. Two listening points for children and adolescents with psychologists and case managers are being established in Gao in collaboration with local NGOs. Identification of parents and children who have lost civil documentation is ongoing in Gao.
Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) has worked with community and other radio stations to broadcast lifesaving information around hygiene and sanitation messages, including safe drinking water. A total of 2375 people were reached with messages on how to prevent floods, the importance of hygiene, sanitation, and safe drinking.
Social Policy: As part of the implementation of the Project “Promotion of Access to Finance, Entrepreneurship and Employment in Mali (PAFEEM)”, UNICEF is using the sub-component High Labour Intensity Public Works (TP-HIMO) to carry out flood prevention and management activities to improve urban drainage of gutters and sewers, and paving of streets. These activities mobilized 11,000 young people to perform sanitation activities in 83 villages and neighborhoods. An estimated 441,520 people will directly benefit from these sanitation activities to prevent and mitigate the effects of flooding in their communities.