GLIDE no. FL-2009-000172-BFA
Period covered by this Ops Update: 03 October to 23 December 2009
Appeal target: This operation is still seeking for CHF 2,113,583 but now to support 3,500 families instead of 5,000. This is based on the latest situation assessment with the Senegalese Red Cross Society (SRCS) and government plan for the affected people.
Appeal coverage: 47%; Cash donations for the appeal still needed to complete its objectives.
Appeal history:
- This Emergency Appeal was initially launched on a preliminary basis on 9 September 2009 for CHF 2.1m for 6 months to support the National Society in delivering assistance to some 25,000 beneficiaries
- Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 200,000 was initially allocated from the Federation's DREF to support regional efforts to prepare and respond
- Ops Update (no. 1) communicated a probable appeal budget revision as the six-month appeal timeframe remains the same
- Ops Update (no. 2) communicated that a draft Plan of Action will be revised. While there had been plans for a revised appeal budget (reduced), the current budget will remain the same.
- This ops Update (no.3) communicates the recovery activities targeting 14,000 people (2,800 households) according to the situation changing and beneficiaries real needs.
Summary: Torrential seasonal rains in Senegal, beginning in June and climaxing during the last week of August 2009 caused heavy flooding in the suburbs of Dakar (the capital city), other major towns such as Koalack and St. Louis as well as other regions and villages of the country. Prior to the floods, the Federation had provided significant initial support of CHF 200,000 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the National Societies in affected countries in delivering assistance on a regional basis. The Federation responded to a request from the SRCS by launching a preliminary Emergency Appeal on 9 September 2009 to support an appropriate and timely response in delivering immediate assistance and relief in the following sectors: non-food item relief distribution, emergency shelter, water, sanitation, health and hygiene promotion, psycho-social support, livelihoods and early recovery, and logistics. The Federation also deployed a Field Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) to support assessment and coordination efforts, and to work with the regional disaster response team members (RDRT) already in place. Two Emergency Response Units (ERUs) were deployed; a joint American and Danish Red Cross Relief ERU, and a Swiss Red Cross Logistics ERU). To date some 3,287 households have benefitted from SRCS relief distributions supported by the ERUs and FACT using the West and Central Africa Zone (WCAZ) prepositioned stocks.
As of mid-October the disaster had stabilized with the seasonal rains having decreased or stopped and therefore very limited further risk of flooding. The WCAZ conducted a recovery survey in the affected parts of the country in order to adapt the operation to the communities' needs. The new plan of action reflects the survey results with a primary focus on the sectors of:
- Water and sanitation (watsan) focusing on raising awareness;
- Training to complement and support the planned shelter and watsan interventions; and
- Recovery projects which include cash and agriculture tools /livestock distributions respectively for 300 and 2,500 households.
The overall appeal activities will be implemented within the initially planned 6-month appeal timeframe and will be completed by the end of February 2010.