ReliefWeb

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

On 24 April 2015, continuous storms resulted in extensive flooding, destroying houses and causing the loss of household belongings in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth districts of Berberati, located some 584 kilometres from Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR). According to a rapid assessment carried out by the local committee of the Central African Republic Red Cross (CARC), 210 households (1,109 people) were affected, with 199 houses completed destroyed. It was reported that one person died and seven others were injured and transferred to the Berberati regional hospital for treatment. As of 5 May 2015 the displaced population was being hosted by other households within Berberati while the others lived in the open air, increasing their exposure to extreme weather conditions, as well as the risk to communicable and respiratory diseases. In addition, water and sanitation infrastructure were submerged and contaminated, increasing the risk for waterborne diseases to spread. It should be noted that the displaced population were already extremely vulnerable prior to the flooding since they had also been affected by the CAR socio-political crisis and still feeling its consequences.

On 14 May 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 99,788 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the CARC respond to the emergency relief, shelter, health and care needs of the affected population, for a period of three months. On 12 August 2015, an Operations Update was issued, which extended the timeframe of the DREF operation by two weeks (New end date: 31 August 2015) to enable the completion of the activities planned in the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA), specifically a beneficiary satisfaction survey and to also complete the payment of per diems due to volunteers.

The major donors and partners of the DREF included the Red Cross Societies and governments of Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the USA, as well as DG ECHO, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) the Medtronic and Zurich Foundations and other corporate and private donors. The IFRC, on behalf of the Central African Red Cross would like to extend many thanks to all partners for their generous contributions.

Please note that this Preliminary Report is issued in advance of the Final Report, which is expected to be issued by the end of December 2015, which will include a financial report.