This Final Report is intended for reporting
on emergency appeals
Launched on: 10 August 2001 for CHF
1,293,933 for a period of three months.
DREF Allocated: CHF 50,000 (repaid)
Beneficiaries: 10,000 (Note: while the original number of intended beneficiaries was 10,000, some form of assistance was actually provided to approximately 80,000 persons)
Period covered: 10 August 2001 until 15 November 2001
"At a glance"
Appeal coverage: 97.3%
Summary: The appeal sought CHF 1,293,933, and CHF 1,259,203 was raised in a combination of cash and goods in kind. The narrative for this report was completed in February 2002. Due to considerable financial backlogs within the SRCS and the need to clear large amounts of working advances before being able to adequately report on the figures involved in this appeal and other programmes, much financial work has been done during 2002 by the SRCS and the delegation. Issuance of this report has unfortunately been significantly delayed by this process.
Operational Developments
Due to heavy rains during July 2001, northern parts of Sudan were hit by disastrous floods. Although in recent years heavy flooding occurred regularly in Sudan (six times since 1998), this most recent one has been the worst flood which affected the country in the past twenty years. Compared to previous years, the Sudanese population suffered further due to unexpectedly early heavy rains, causing large scale displacement of families, destruction of homes, crops and livestock, mosques and entire villages.
More than 62,000 people in nine states of Sudan lost their homes to this natural disaster. The worst affected states of the country were River Nile state to the north of the capital Khartoum, Sinnar and Gezira to the south of Khartoum (please refer to table 1). In addition to this information provided by the Sudanese authorities, several co-ordinated assessment visits to Nile and Sinnar states, consisting of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS), government representatives, UN agencies and NGOs, confirmed a large scale damage.
On 7 September, the water level rose to its highest peak ever recorded in the country, causing fears of further deterioration in the situation. Fortunately, this did not happen, and since then, the flood level has been gradually stabilised and the water level started to decrease. Although the immediate risk to the population gradually ceased, the health situation continued to be hazardous, with reported increase in waterborne diseases, as well as chest and eye infections.
Red Cross Red Crescent action
Based on previous experience, in 2000 SRCS and the Federation developed a proactive contingency flood-response plan. In line with this, and to respond to the needs of those affected in 2001, the disaster preparedness department of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS), supported by the International Federation, in close collaboration with the Civil Defence, Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), Nile Water Directorate and Ministry of Irrigation, carried out necessary disaster response preparations and response plan of action.
As part of these actions, two rapid assessment missions were conducted during the first days of floods. The first mission was to Sinnar State with representatives of the Government, the SRCS, the Spanish Red Cross and other agencies, revealing 3,200 affected families in nine villages. Many villages were not accessible at the time, due to road problems and heavy flooding. The second assessment mission was conducted to the River Nile State by the SRCS, the Federation, government authorities, UN agencies and NGOs, finding some 70,000 acres of productive land heavily damaged by the floods.
Table (1) Affected population by areas of Sudan
State branch
|
No. of Areas affected
|
Affected Population
|
No. of houses
affected |
Sinnar |
15
|
16,715
|
1'000
|
River Nile |
7
|
33,174
|
1'150
|
N. State |
13
|
3,690
|
3'658
|
Khartoum |
3
|
2,550
|
212
|
Gezira |
13
|
2,420
|
-
|
Kassala |
8
|
1,760
|
-
|
S. Darfur |
6
|
1,250
|
-
|
White Nile |
-
|
410
|
-
|
N.Kordofan |
-
|
1,245
|
-
|
Total |
65
|
63,214
|
6'020
|
Based on the findings of these missions and assessed needs, the emergency assistance to the most affected was prioritised first, including a provision of shelter, health care and other vital non-food items. The second proposed action focused on curbing a growing number of waterborne diseases, respiratory and eye infections, and other diseases through health, and water and sanitation activities.
In response to the disaster, a preliminary Emergency Appeal was launched by the Federation on behalf of SRCS on 10 August 2001, seeking CHF 1,293,933 to provide 10,000 beneficiaries with emergency assistance over a three-month period. Some programme components were completed by mid-November. International donors and National Societies responded to the appeal in a timely manner, enabling SRCS and the Federation to quickly assist the most vulnerable.
Red Crescent Society
The initial response to the floods by the Sudanese Red Crescent Society was highly efficient. Immediately at the onset of disaster at the beginning of August, the National Society dispatched their emergency Disaster Preparedness (DP) stocks from the headquarters to the most affected areas. This included plastic sheeting, blankets, tents and jerrycans (please refer to table 2 below).
Table (2) indicates the distribution of SRCS emergency stocks
State Branch
|
Blankets
|
Jerrycans
|
Tents
|
Hospital Tents
|
Plastic sheeting
|
Sinnar |
2'000
|
1'000
|
1
|
1
| |
River Nile |
2'000
|
1'000
|
1
| ||
N. State |
1'000
|
500
|
1
| ||
Gezira |
1'000
|
500
|
1
|
1
| |
Kassala |
800
| ||||
S. Darfur |
1'000
| ||||
Total |
7'000
|
3'000
|
4
|
2
|
800
|
In addition to the release of emergency stocks, volunteers of the branches of Khartoum, Northern State, Sinnar, River Nile and Gezira participated in a number of other disaster response actions, including providing the communities with sand bags, cleaning water drainage systems, conducting community awareness in different affected areas, riverbank reinforcement actions using sand bags, first aid services, technical support to mobile technical clinics, health education, environmental health actions, and other.
Co-ordinated by Emergency Committee at the headquarters, five State branches established a number of Emergency Volunteer Teams, consisting of 10-30 volunteers with a responsibility of carrying out the above tasks in assisting the most vulnerable, in close co-operation with local authorities. The largest teams were established in Khartoum (12 teams), Sinnar (15 teams) and the Northern State (15 teams). In all, over 1,500 volunteers from five states were mobilised to participate in SRCS' disaster response operation.
Throughout the time of disaster, the headquarters and the branches of the National Society were highly regarded by both the communities and local authorities for its contribution towards better response co-ordination, as well as for providing the up-to-date vital information concerning latest developments and outstanding needs of the affected communities.
The preparedness level of SRCS was much higher than in previous years' disasters, which should be attributed to both their extensive experience in disaster response, as well as improved capacities through training of volunteers, resulting in minimised fatalities.
Clear reporting structure was established within SRCS. Each of the State branches provided daily reports to the headquarters' officer on duty, including floods update from their regions, activities carried out and identified needs.
To provide additional capacity to the National Society, two temporary relief officers / co-ordinators were recruited during floods operation. Additional staff were also recruited in Sinnar, River Nile, Southern Darfur and Northern State. To support SRCS, an additional relief delegate has been assigned to the Federation Delegation in Sudan.
Monitoring and Assessment
Objective: Through emergency volunteer teams, assess further disaster response needs, population displacements, property damage, and health risks.
Throughout the stages of emergency response to floods, the volunteers and staff of SRCS both at HQ and community/branch levels played a key role in their co-operation with local authorities, communities and other humanitarian agencies. The members of these teams continually performed duties of assessing the changing needs of the affected population, participated in daily monitoring of flood levels in their regions, as well as door-to-door impact assessment visits to the affected population. They provided daily and weekly reports to State headquarters for further reporting to the central HQ in Khartoum and Humanitarian Aid Commission.
This was possible due to SRCS' widespread coverage, consisting of branches and their volunteers, providing an advantage which other structures do not have. SRCS was often first able to visit the affected areas and gather information on disaster. The results of these actions had a direct influence on designing the response plan of action, not only for the National Society, but also HAC.
Other volunteer actions included alerting the population of coming disaster, providing them with information on highest hazard factors related to their specific location (e.g. alerting them to start preparing for evacuation from locations close to imminent flooding), as well as advising them of what actions they can take to minimise the damage to themselves. Many volunteers were actually involved in relocating people to higher places, preparing meals for the displaced, clearing debris, helping in repairing bridges, and other.
Health
Objective: To provide first aid, health education and basic health care by setting up mobile health clinics.
State branches of SRCS are members of state emergency committees, and as such participated in all stages of disaster response planning. SRCS is an auxiliary to government health departments in the regions. Following assessments and collected data on the number of affected families and their health needs, the assistance focused on providing both curative and preventive activities, complementing the local health structures' capacities, as well as targeting the affected population through intensive public health campaign.
As part of this strategy, a number of fixed and mobile clinics were reactivated into assisting the population in their catchment areas. In Gezira State this included two mobile clinics and one fixed, in Northern State SRCS supported five mobile clinics, while in Sinnar there were five mobile and two fixed clinics. The Ministry of Health (MoH) seconded medical doctors to all branches, one per each mobile and fixed health clinic, thus strengthening their technical capacities in assisting the population.
In the early stages of the disaster, the Danish Red Cross responded with an in-kind donation of eight New Emergency Health Kits (NEHK), each containing basic drugs and renewable medical supplies, as well as supplementary drugs and medical supplies. In co-ordination with the Ministry of Health, five kits were immediately dispatched to River Nile, Sinnar, Northern State and Khartoum, providing essential support in this emergency stage. The remaining three kits are being stored at the central SRCS warehouse in Khartoum for intervention in future disasters.
Based on the medical information provided by the Ministry of Public Health in River Nile State, during the most critical period of the disaster (August/September), the number of communicable diseases increased dramatically, compared to the same period in 2000.
Many beneficiaries were treated for different diseases, ranging from diarrhoea, measles, eye infections, malaria, meningitis, and other. Below is a morbidity table, showing a number of cases treated in each region by SRCS during the floods-related assistance.
For further details please contact: Martin Fisher, Phone: 41 22 730 4440; Fax: 41 22 733 0395; email: martin.fisher@ifrc.org
All International Federation Operations seek to adhere to the Code of Conduct and are committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (SPHERE Project) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable.
For support to or for further information concerning Federation operations in this or other countries, please access the Federation website at http://www.ifrc.org.
This operation sought to administer to the immediate requirements of the victims of this disaster. Subsequent operations to promote sustainable development or long-term capacity building will require additional support, and these programmes are outlined on the Federation's website.
John Horekens
Director
Division of External Relations
Bekele Geleta
Head
Africa Department
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