Attachments
This second revised Emergency Appeal seeks 2,348,442 Swiss francs (reduced from 4,740,589 Swiss francs) to enable the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to support the Peruvian Red Cross (PRC) to deliver humanitarian assistance to some 35,000 people (reduced from 50,000 people) over 12 months with a focus on the following sectors: health; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); shelter and settlement; disaster risk reduction (DRR); and National Society capacity building. The operation also includes unconditional cash transfer programming (CTP) component to assist 1,000 households. The current funding gap is 716,974 Swiss francs. Major changes to this revised operation include scaling up actions in WASH (particularly latrine construction and community water projects), health (health promotion and psychosocial support) and shelter (provision of more temporary shelters). Details are available in the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) here.
The disaster and the Red Cross Red Crescent response to date
31 January 2017: Heavy rains and storms, associated with a coastal phenomenon of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), cause flooding and other associated phenomena (strong winds, hailstorms, thunderstorms). The PRC volunteers and staff, with the support of International Movement components in country, were mobilised to support the communities and to conduct damage and needs assessments.
16 March 2017: Faced with extensive floods and landslides on Peru’s northern coast, the Peruvian Government declares a state of emergency in 11 departments.
24 March 2017: The IFRC launches an Emergency Appeal for 3,997,679 Swiss francs to assist 50,000 people, which included 399,768 Swiss francs from the IFRC Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) allocated on 22 February 2017.
25 March 2017: First charter plane sent by the Regional Logistics Unit (RLU) in Panama with 34 tonnes of humanitarian aid arrives in Peru.
6 April 2017: An Emergency Appeal Revision, with a full Emergency Plan of Action, issued for 4,740,589 Swiss francs to support 50,000 people for 12 months.
27 April 2017: Operations update no. 1 published.
10 July 2017: Operations update no. 2 published. 26 September 2017: The IFRC issues revised Emergency Appeal no.2 for 2,348,442 Swiss francs to assist 35,000 people.
The operational strategy
Situation
According to National Institute for Civil Defence (INDECI), a total of 1.7 million people were affected by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which began affect Peru since November 2016. Between January and March 2017, heavy rainfall, floods and landslides in the coastal departments (Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Ancash, Lima and Ica) and the mountain department of Cajamarca, affected 438,113 houses of which 38,728 collapsed and 27,365 were uninhabitable. As of 17 August 2017, INDECI reported that Piura was the most affected department with 528,651 affected people, which is followed by La Libertad: 465,940; Lambayeque: 183,946; and Ancash 150,737.
Summary of response to date
In the first five months of this emergency, the PRC, the IFRC and other Movement components successfully provided essential humanitarian support to the affected population in Ancash, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Lima, Piura and Tumbes. More than 400 PRC volunteers in the affected departments and the capital city of Lima have participated in all phases of the emergency response since the start of the operation.
The highlights of the emergency phase include: the distribution of non-food items (NFI) to at least 12,226 families, and reaching 3,786 people with health promotion activities including the distribution of 5,504 household repellents and 6,644 spiral repellents. Psychosocial support was provided to 2,967 children and adolescents and 2,346 adults. This operation provided access to 851,082 litres of purified water, distributing 5,009 jerry cans, 3,150 hygiene kits and 504 community cleaning kits, as well as training volunteers in WASH. Additionally, the PRC, with IFRC support, distributed 5,008 tarpaulins, 2,367 kitchen kits, non-standard shelter kits and 4,744 clothing packets. Furthermore, the PRC distributed 2,129 food kits, composed of locally-donated food. Restoring Family Links (RFL) support was provided for 88 cases, which entailed telephone calls, hotline calls, messages and search requests.
The IFRC, as global shelter cluster lead agency for natural disasters, deployed a shelter coordination team to support the government of Peru and engage in inter-agency discussions regarding emergency shelter.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) supported the RFL and costs related to the deployment of PRC volunteers to the affected areas. The ICRC also provided communication support for the Movement response to this emergency, as well as coordination in protection and health issues.
The German Red Cross completed two bilateral emergency response projects in early August in Piura.
These projects distributed 2,500 buckets and chlorine bleach; 2,500 hygiene kits; 3,600 long-lasting insect-treated nets; 1,230 mattresses; 650 kitchen kits; community first aid equipment; and five water bladders. These distributions were complemented with health promotion activities and a CTP for 420 families.
The Spanish Red Cross supports the PRC through two bilateral projects. The project in in Huarmey (Ancash) will distribute 500 cold weather kits, 1,200 hygiene kits and build 12 temporary shelter modules. The project in Lambayeque will support 400 households with cash transfers, distribute buckets for the treatment of safe water and cleaning kits, in addition to health promotion activities.