InterAction Members Respond to the Victims of the Floods in Southern Africa 20 Mar 2000

Press Contact: Shanta M. Bryant, 202-667-8227 x115
NGO Contacts: James Bishop, Director of Humanitarian Response, 202-667-8227, x104

Tony Stitt, Senior Program Associate, x106

InterAction members listed below are accepting contributions for assistance they or their affiliates are providing to victims of the floods in Southern Africa. Visit the following links for further information:

• Details on current assistance being provided by InterAction members
• Reliefweb wwwnotes.reliefweb.int for up-to-date information on Southern Africa
• InterAction's Guide to Appropriate Giving and Donations.

Flooding, caused by weeks of torrential rain and exacerbated by a recent cyclone, have devastated parts of southern Africa, leaving hundreds feared dead and more than one million people displaced. Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland were severely affected by the floods; Mozambique was the hardest hit. The following InterAction members are responding to the immediate humanitarian needs of those most affected in flood-stricken areas.

The following list was produced by InterAction, a coalition of more than 160 US-based private relief, development and refugee assistance agencies. InterAction members have agreed to abide by a set of standards to ensure accountability to donors, professional competence and quality of service.

Details of InterAction Member Assistance in Southern Africa

Action Against Hunger

(updated Mar 6, 00)

The Action Against Hunger Team includes water engineers, nurses, and transportation specialists to help 50,000 people in the Province of Sofala, Districts of Buzy, Machanga, and Chibanava. An air shipment with 4 tons of hydrolic equipement to help prevent cholera was sent on March 4th. Hygiene kits and cooking materials will be disitributed next week. Later, when people will go back to their villages, roofing materials, seeds, and agricultural tools will be distributed.

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)

(updated March 20, 00)

In response to an appeal from the Provincial Governor of Maputo, ADRA is airlifting by helicopter approximately 22 tons of food to the Xinavane region (87 miles north of Maputo) in Mozambique. There, more than 28,000 people had their homes and all their possessions washed away. ADRA may also distribute as many as 4,500 family kits there. ADRA already delivered $25,000 of food aid in the areas outside Maputo and Motola. ADRA also sent a truck loaded with five tons of food, clothing and blankets to respond to flooding in Ziimbabwe, and is raising funds in Botswana to provide relief there.

African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF USA)

(updated March 20, 00)

AMREF has installed an emergency relief team, which works in close cooperation with the Mozambique government, to provide relief assistance in Sofala and Inhambane provinces. A small rapid situation team is in the field and will soon report on the most urgent needs. AMREF is also assisting the Mozambique Christian Council (MCC) to care for some 5,000 displaced people in Maputo province.

Africare

(updated Mar 7, 00)

Africare plans initially to distribute household items (soap, utensils, clothing) to flood-affected families in isolated sections of Manica Province. This will be followed by distribution of seeds, agricultural implements and basic building tools.

Air Serv

(updated March 20, 00)

Air Serv has converted their aviation and boat response from "search and rescue" to support of the increasing relief and rehabilitation efforts. Our three helicopters and eight fixed wing aircraft are participating in itinerate vaccination programs of the camps, assessment and planning by civil engineers focused on getting minimal land infrastructure routes repaired, distribution of medicines and survival packs for families in temporary shelters, water purification equipment, and even body bags for the hundreds who have lost their lives. We are also delivering significant quantities of food aid for WFP.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

(update Feb 25, 00)

AFSC is collecting funds and working in partnership with local partner NGOs and with AFSC staff based in Mozambique to direct assistance where it is most needed. AFSC has been active in Mozambique since 1975.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC)

(Updated Mar 3, 00)

AJJDC is currently providing assistance which enables South African and Israeli physicians to work in Mozambique, the country hardest-hit by the flooding. Additional activities are in the planning stages.

American Jewish World Service

(Updated Mar 6, 00)

American Jewish World Service has partnered with LATET, the Israeli Humanitarian Aid Organization in support of their operations to assist the victims. Presently, there is a 40 person medical team equipped with over 70 tons of emergency medical, food, and clothing supplies. Two helicopters have been procured to provide assistance to the affected remote areas.

American Red Cross International

(updated March 1, 00)

In response to the Southern Africa floods , ARC released an initial USD 100,000 of ARC funds in support of the Red Cross Relief operation in the affected countries, particularly Mozambique. The funds are contributing to the assistance being provided by the Red Cross societies in the region, particularly Mozambican Red Cross, which has assisted 35,000 people and is aiming to serve approximately 100,000, and continues to provide food, shelter and clean in accessible are in an around Maputo Province. ARC is sending a needs assessment team to the region in the next few days and plans to further respond based on the findings and recommendations of the team.

America's Development Foundation (ADF)

(updated March 13, 00)

ADF works with Mozambican non-governmental organizations around the country. ADF seeks to raise funds to invest in tools and seeds to allow 20,000 farmers to begin their road toward self-sufficiency, moving away from living on food aid handouts as quickly as possible. ADF needs to distribute these supplies no later than August so that the farmers can begin the crop cycles on time.

Brother's Brother Foundation

(updated Feb 25, 00)

Brother's Brother Foundation is chanelling resources to Madagascar in cooperation with its partner agency, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in America. This Synod is directly linked to the Malagasy Lutheran Church and the island-wide medical outreach program they created. BBF is also partnered with Baptist World Aid and its affiliates to channel resources to Mozambique.

Presiding Bishop's Fund

(updated Feb 25, 00)

The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief has sent a $25,000 emergency grant to the Diocese of Lebombo, Mozambique to assist them with relief efforts.

Baptist World Aid

(updated Feb 25, 00)

Baptist World Aid has made an initial grant of $5,000 available to assist relief efforts BWAid's help will be channeled through the Baptist Convention of Mozambique, and funds will be used to provide water purification tablets, medicines, and food. A boys home run by the Convention in Maputo has suffered severe damage, and BWAid will be considering assisting in its repair.

CARE

(updated Mar 7, 00)

CARE is focusing its relief efforts in Mozambique's capital, Maputo, and in the district of Guvoro in the northern Inhambane Province, along the swollen Save River. Once an assessment of the needs in Gaza Province has been completed, CARE will coordinate with other aid agencies to help rehabilitate the region. CARE's immediate relief activities include: managing emergency centers, distributing food and medicine, directing rescue missions, procuring fuel, serving as the communications link for aid agencies working in the Save River area, and working to repair homes and infrastructure in Maputo.

Catholic Relief Services

(updated March 20, 00)

Catholic Relief Services is providing immediate assistance to the victims of the massive floods in Madagascar in the form of plastic sheeting, candles, matches, and soap to 500 families in the Marsiky village and a distribution of 72 metric tons of emergency food supplies to 10,000 people throughout the region. Ongoing assistance will be provided in the area of medical aid for the prevention and treatment of cholera and other water-born illnesses as well as long-term assistance in reconstruction of homes and roads and rehabilitation of crops.

Concern Worldwide

(updated Feb 25, 00)

Concern Worldwide is supplying relief goods (rice, beans, oil and sugar) to 2,800 families in Maputo province and is hoping to extend this to Gaza province. We have a health and sanitation expert carrying out an assessment of sanitation needs in camps in Northern Maputo Province which house those displaced by the flooding. Concern Worldwide also has a long term development program in Mozambique and is using logistics and administration systems already established in the country.

Church World Service

(updated March 17, 00)

Church World Service is focusing its work on long-term recovery efforts in Mozambique, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe, including resettlement and return of affected families. This includes blanket distribution, the local purchase of rural resettlement kits, and assisting efforts to develop an ecumenically based emergency committee coordinating long-term recovery efforts. CWS is working with numerous local and international churches and church organizations.

Direct Relief Interational

(updated Feb 25, 00)

Direct Relief will send medical commodities to in-country NGO's, pending the receipt of needs lists.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

(Updated Mar 4, 00)

MSF is providing emergency assistance in the hardest hit provinces of Maputo, Gaza, and Inhambane. They have dispatched medical teams, relief supplies, water tanks, rescue boats, water and sanitation materials, and logistical kits to the region and set up cholera treatment centers in Matola and Maputo.

Food for the Hungry

(updated Feb 25, 00)

Food for the Hungry (FH) is assisting flood victims in Sofala province of Mozambique. They are further exploring whether to provide aid to flooded areas near Maputo, where they operate child development program activities.

International Aid (IA)

(updated March 17, 00)

International Aid has sent two major shipments of relief supplies to the stricken areas of Mozambique. The items include hygiene kits, medicine, blankets, baby food and oral rehydration salts. Also, International Aid is coordinating an airlift of supplies from South Africa to Mozambique. The items include vaccine for cholera, vitamins, and nutritional supplements for infants. An International Aid team is assessing the situation there.

International Medical Corps

(updated Mar 7, 00)

An IMC public health team, which included members who specialize in cholera treatment and control, was dispached to Maputo over the weekend where they are now liaising with the Mozambique Ministry of Health and WHO to develop appropriate services for populations displaced by the flooding.

International Relief Teams (IRT)

(updated Mar 6, 00)

IRT will purchase 5,000 blankets in South Africa and truck them to Mozambique. They are also making arrangements to airlift medical supplies and essential medicines needed to combat water-borne diseases.

Latter-day Saint Charities

(updated Mar 6, 00)

Latter-day Saint Charities has sent a total of $52,000 to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa for the immediate purchase of food in the affected areas. A shipment of containers loaded with clothing, food, medical supplies, and powdered milk