Latin America & The Caribbean Weekly Situation Update (As of 20 March 2023)

KEY FIGURES

+56,600 PEOPLE IMPACTED BY FLOODING IN PERU

PERU: FLOODING

During March, rains have intensified considerably on the north-central Peruvian coast. Adding to the already complicated situation were the effects caused by cyclone Yaku, the first low pressure system off the South American Pacific coast in decades, which left the area of influence in Peru on 17 March. Since January 2023, the rainy season has left nearly 13,400 people without shelter, 43,100 affected and 58 people dead, in addition to numerous damages to housing infrastructure, classrooms, health centres and crops. A rain emergency declaration is in effect for 870 districts, 45 percent of the country's districts.

Partners on the ground report a diversity of needs for food, safe water and sanitation, hygiene and health access, housing rehabilitation or reconstruction, and public campaigns to mitigate the risk of communicable diseases.
On 16 March, the Multisectoral Commission for the National Study of the "El Niño"

Phenomenon (EFEN in Spanish) declared the "Coastal El Niño Alert" throughout the country and reiterated that the heavy rainy season will continue until May.

KEY FIGURES

+1,100 PEOPLE AFFECTED BY EARTHQUAKE IN ECUADOR

ECUADOR: EARTHQUAKE

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake was registered on 18 March in the province of Guayas, on the coastal area of Ecuador. According to the Risk Management Secretariat, the earthquake has affected 1,107 people and has left, to date, 14 people dead, hundreds injured and numerous houses and buildings affected.

The National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) and the Provincial COEs of Guayas, Azuay, Cañar and El Oro are active, as well as the Cantonal COEs of El Guabo, Pasaje, Machala, Huaquillas and Santa Rosa in El Oro; Cuenca and Santa Isabel in Azuay. Additionally, the cantons of Pasaje and El Guabo, in the province of El Oro, have declared an emergency. In the 19 March session, the National COE agreed to request a declaration of a State of Emergency due to natural disasters at national level.

KEY FIGURES

+5.2 million PEOPLE IN HAITI IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN 2023

HAITI: HUMANITARIAN NEEDS OVERVIEW

According to Haiti's Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) 2023, released on 17 March, more than 5.2 million people will need humanitarian assistance in the country this year, up from 4.9 million in 2022. Fifty-seven percent of those in urgent need are girls and women.

The Caribbean country is facing a multifaceted crisis, marked by widespread insecurity, caused and maintained by criminal gangs, affecting all key sectors of the country: food, economy, health, justice and basic social services; leaving almost half of the population vulnerable. OCHA estimates that at least 1.5 million people, the equivalent of half the population of the capital Port-au-Prince, are directly affected by gang violence.

About 4.8 million people in Haiti will be food insecure in 2023. About 19,200 of them are estimated to be at a catastrophic level of food insecurity (IPC Phase 5), all of them located in Cité Soleil, a poor neighborhood in Port-au-Prince controlled by several gangs.

On 15-16 March, six representatives of UN humanitarian agencies and international NGOs visited the country and met with the humanitarian community, the authorities, as well as people in need of humanitarian assistance and community representatives from areas controlled by or under the influence of armed gangs.

Despite the challenges, officials from OCHA, Concern Worldwide, UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF and World Vision noted that the humanitarian response continues to be scaled up and pledged to further support humanitarian workers on the ground.