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Sudan: Floods Appeal No. MDRSD002 Operation Update No. 4

Countries
Sudan
Sources
IFRC
Publication date

The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 185 countries.

In Brief

Appeal No. MDRSD002; Operations Update no. 4; Period covered: 8 October to 22 December 2006; Appeal coverage: 66.2%.

Outstanding needs: CHF 511,845 (USD 419,545 or EUR 305,579).

Appeal history:

Preliminary Emergency Appeal was launched on 19 August 2006 for CHF 607,407 (USD 492,625 or EUR 386,146) for 6 months to assist 3,000 families (15,000 beneficiaries)

Operations Update no. 1 was issued on 26 August 2006.

Operations Update no. 2, issued on 14 September 2006, presented a revised plan of action, increased the number of beneficiary households to 4,620 and revised the budget to CHF 2,017,353 (USD 1,642,528 or EUR 1,280,412).

Operations Update no. 3, issued on 13 October 2006, presented a revised plan of action (based on results of further assessments) and reduced the budget to CHF 1,512,497 (USD 1,231,172 or EUR 960,435).

Disaster Relief Emergency Funds (DREF) allocated: CHF 225,000.

Operational summary: During the reporting period, focus was on the health component of the operation. Activities implemented include water and sanitation (WatSan), hygiene education/promotion, refresher training in household water treatment campaign as well as participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation in emergency response (PHASTER). Cooperation with partner national societies (PNSs) in facilitating the provision of health and WatSan items as well as construction materials was also sustained over the period.

Background

Since the beginning of August 2006, torrential rainfall across the Horn of Africa region caused extensive flooding. In particular, rainfall in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands caused flooding in those countries as well as in Sudan as the levels of the Nile, Algash and Atbara rivers reached critical thresholds. Authorities reported that the water level exceeded the 1988 rates which led to an unprecedented disaster in Sudan. According to the Sudanese Government's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), the 2006 flooding in Sudan killed at least 40 people and destroyed more than 11,000 homes in the Sinnar, River Nile, Northern and Red Sea states. Sinnar State, south of Khartoum towards the Ethiopian border, was worst hit by the flooding - with the homes of 3,622 families totally destroyed by the floodwaters. As the river water moved northwards, it flooded areas of Northern and River Nile states.

The impact of the floods was widespread. Schools, shops and clinics were damaged and large swathes of agricultural land were flooded. Supplies of food and fresh water dwindled as the floods continued to destroy crops. In some areas such as Sinnar, vegetable and fruit gardens were completely destroyed. Communities in these areas, who are mainly agriculturalist, lost significant means of gainful existence.

Operational developments

The critical and emergency stage of the disaster is over and operational and recovery activities are progressing. Due to dropping of temperature in recent weeks, the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) distributed more tarpaulins and blankets to the affected communities in Khartoum, Northern, River Nile and Sinnar states. As reflected in previous updates, the floods had severely affected livelihoods, particularly in Sinnar State where about 17,000 hectares of agricultural and garden land were completely destroyed. The scope of the SRCS intervention - with support from the Federation, partner national societies (PNSs), humanitarian agencies and government authorities - is expected to gradually take shape. Focus at this stage is on the health component, including water and sanitation (WatSan) activities. Hygiene education/promotion, refresher training in household water treatment campaign, as well as participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation in emergency response (PHASTER) are also continuing.

A memorandum proposing the ongoing operational modalities, including a three-phase plan of action, was prepared to take the operation in Sudan through emergency relief to post emergency recovery, livelihoods and food security phase. It hopefully will be completed in April 2007. This recovery programme was facilitated by the floods emergency coordinator who was deployed by the Federation to oversee the operation in Sudan at its most critical phase.

For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:

In Sudan: Osman Jaffer, Secretary General, Sudanese Red Crescent Society, Khartoum; Email: srcs@sudanmail.net; Phone:+249.183.77.20.11; Mobile: +249.912.31.88.88

In Sudan: Mathew Varghese, Federation Head of Sudan Delegation, Khartoum; Email: mathew.varghese@ifrc.org; Phone:+ 249.183.77.10.33; Mobile: +249.912.15.80.15

In Kenya: Per Jensnäs, Federation Head of Eastern Africa Regional Delegation, Nairobi; Email: per.jensnaes@ifrc.org; Phone +254.20.283.51.24; Fax +254.20.271.84.15

In Kenya: Charles Byamugisha, Disaster Management Coordinator, Eastern Africa Regional Delegation, Nairobi; Email: charlesgodfrey.byamugisha@ifrc.org; Phone +254.20.285.31.17; Fax +254.20.271.27.77.

In Geneva: Amna Al Ahmar, Federation Regional Officer for East Africa, Africa Dept.; Email: amna.alahmar@ifrc.org; Phone +41.22.730.44.27; Fax+41.22.733.03.95.

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for a full description of the national society profile, please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org