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Mali: Floods - Emergency Plan of Action n° MDRML012 Final Report

Countries
Mali
Sources
IFRC
Publication date
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A. Situation analysis Description of the disaster

In Mali, heavy rainfall led to extensive flooding from 11 to 23 July 2016. Regions of Gao, Mopti Ségou, and Sikasso were the worst affected by the rains and flooding. According to rapid assessments, some 3,098 families were affected, of which 500 were left homeless and sought refuge with neighboring families or in public buildings (schools). In Mopti, Ségou and Sikasso, many localities also experienced food insecurity (rated in the “Phase 2 – Orange” phase) during the “lean season”, and this was exacerbated by the flooding. The risk of waterborne diseases outbreak was very high given the lack of efficient waste management and rainwater draining in areas that were already prone to cholera outbreaks. Security in these regions remains volatile due to sporadic terrorist attacks. Flooding increased the vulnerability of the population.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) provided technical support to Mali Red Cross (MRC) through its Sahel Country Cluster Office, in Dakar, Senegal, and Africa Regional Office, in Nairobi, Kenya.

On 26 July 2016, an alert was issued using the IFRC Disaster Management Information System (DMIS), which indicated the intention of the MRC to request international assistance to the floods through an allocation from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF). On the same day, an Operational Strategy Call was convened with representatives from the IFRC Sahel Country Cluster Office, Africa Region and Geneva and it was agreed that a DREF allocation was anappropriate modality to support the National Society response. Hence the releasing of CHF 203,076 from DREF to support MRC to respond to the needs of flood affected population.

This DREF has been replenished by DG ECHO, Belgian Red Cross/Government and Netherlands Red Cross/SEF. The major donors and partners of the DREF include 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, Zurich and Coca Cola Foundations and other corporate and private donors. IFRC on behalf of MRC would like to extend many thanks to all partners for their generous contributions.

Summary of response

Overview of Host National Society

Following the flooding, MRC took several actions in response to the disaster. The National Society deployed staff and volunteers from its local Branches to conduct rapid assessments to establish the needs of the affected population and the level of damage/destruction. MRC strengthened the capacity of the CDRT teams (32 volunteers) in Sikasso and Koulikoro. A National Disaster Response Team (NDRT) comprised of 16 volunteers, bringing together representatives from the 8 regions and Bamako District was also trained. These training sessions were conducted with support from the Canadian Red Cross through the Emergency Response Capacity initiative in Africa (RECA). The National Society has a network of over 10,000 volunteers located across the country. Following the launch of the DREF, Mali Red Cross continued to advocate for supplementary support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Partner National Societies (PNS).

Overview of Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in country

The IFRC launched a DREF operation intended to contribute to ensuring that the needs of the affected population are met. The ICRC has a delegation in Mali, which supported the National Society to respond to the populations needs in conflict areas in the Northern Regions of the country, specifically Gao, Kidal, Mopti and Tombouctou. Therefore the ICRC supported MRC to respond to the needs of the flood-affected populations in these regions with Essential House Hold Items (EHI), with a baseline targeting 200 families in each of the 4 Northern Regions.

Regarding the 2016 floods, an operation room was set up for a daily briefing session of 30 minutes each between 9:00 to 9:30 a.m.; this briefing included all services and technical departments of the National Society, PNS and the Regional Disaster Response Teams (RDRTs) members deployed by IFRC. There was also a working committee that met every fortnight for strategic decisions at the Movement level (senior management SN, PNS, ICRC and IFRC).

Mali Red Cross also was supported by 8 Partner National Societies (PNS) including the Belgian, Canadian, Danish, French, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spanish and Swiss Red Cross. The PNS were monitoring the situation. For this DREF operation, a coordination and advocacy framework with all Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement partners was developed with support from IFRC. An operational activity map was developed and shared with Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement partners.