OCHA Situation Report
West Africa: Floods
11 October 2007


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Scope of floods

Around 800,000 people have been affected by floods in 14 countries in
West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Cote d'Ivoire,
Senegal, The Gambia, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Sierra Leone, Benin,
Ghana and Guinea) (1). Among the hardest hit countries are: Ghana (over
332,000 affected), Togo (over 120,000 affected), Burkina Faso (over
92,900 affected), Niger (57,000) and Mali (over 42,000 affected).

Highlights

- The United Nations has allocated $4.9 million emergency humanitarian
assistance to Mali ($1 million), Ghana ($2.5 million) and Togo ($1.4
million) in response to floods that have inundated these three countries
since August. The CERF allocations are meant to immediately improve the
living conditions of 125,000 people in these three countries - 75,000 in
Ghana, 30,000 in Togo and 20,000 in Mali.  The funding will support
projects developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the
World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as their
partners.

- Burkina Faso is preparing a flash appeal to respond the needs of flood
affected people.

- Relief items from Brindisi arrived on 4 October in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso. A similar stock is expected to reach the Malian capital
Bamako in the coming days.

Situation and response

Ghana

The Ghanaian government launched on 9 October an appeal for
international assistance in order to reconstruct the areas devastated by
floods in the north of the country. Flooding in the Upper East Region,
Upper West Region, Northern Region and parts of the Western Region have
affected 332,600 people and caused the death of 56 according to the
Government. Some 35,000 houses and 1,500 kilometers and thousands
hectares of crops have been destroyed.

Response

On 4 October, the United Nations launched a Flash Appeal of $9,913,136
in order to rapidly respond to the evolving situation and complement
ongoing efforts by national and local authorities. The purpose is to
address the immediate needs of flood victims in Ghana.  The flash appeal
will target some 75,000 vulnerable individuals, who have been directly
affected by the floods (15,000 in upper east, 50,000 in northern region
and 10,000 in upper west).  As part of the United Nations commitment to
assist in the immediate response, the Emergency Relief Coordinator has
authorized the disbursement of $2,496,956 through the Central Emergency
Response Fund (CERF).  This is in addition to resources mobilized
bilaterally by other humanitarian actors and Government entities.

A grant of $2,496,956 has been approved by the United Nations Central
Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) to allow WFP, UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO to fund
life saving projects in the sectors of food, nutrition, health and water
and sanitation for the benefit of 75,000 people. IFRC intends to provide
assistance to 10 000 families in Upper East and Northern region areas in
health education activities, water and sanitation, distribution of
tarpaulins, sleeping mats, shelter tools.

Furthermore, WFP has launched an emergency operation to feed 75,000
people in the most affected areas, and 219 MT of food are being
dispatched. Distributions are ongoing with the Ghana Health Service as
implementing partner. UNICEF immediately responded to floods in Ghana
distributing aqua tablets for household water purification, ceramic
filters and hygiene kits. CARE is also distributing three-week rations
of maize in 20 communities and it is planning agricultural recovery
activities that will help people re-build their farms, gardens, and
livestock herds.

And as 10 October marks International Disaster Risk Reduction Day, CARE
uses the occasion to advocate diversifying income sources, the creation
of flood-resistant grain silos and contingency planning, to better
prepare Ghana to resist future shocks. It plans also to work on disaster
risk reduction and emergency preparedness planning with communities in
Ghana's three northern regions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change reports that climate change could halve Africa's food production
by 2020, causing severely compromised food security.

Burkina Faso

Floods have affected over 92,970 affected and caused more than 28,000
displaced, 46 deaths and 73 injured. According to the national
commission for emergency response and national rehabilitation, floods
have washed away 8, 412 houses, 1, 750 food stocks and destroyed
thousands of hectares of cropped farms.

Response

A stock of 244 tents, 500 jerry cans and 4000 mosquito nets arrived on 4
October in Burkina Faso from OCHA emergency stocks in Brindisi Italy.
The 35 mt emergency goods, an equivalent of $310,000 are destined to
assist 50,000 people affected by floods in the north and the south of
Burkina Faso. The UNICEF has provided the Burkina Faso Ministry of
national solidarity with protein-rich biscuits, essential drugs and
basic relief items such as blankets and plastic water containers.
Earlier in September, the Burkina Faso government invested about 800,000
USD to assist flood victims. They have distributed 1,300 MT of cereals
from its own National Intervention Stock to 16,500 people affected by
the floods. WFP is coordinating the UNCT response to address water,
sanitation and hygiene issues.

IFRC allocated $104,705 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)
to enable the Burkina Faso branch to respond to initial needs of flood
victims. The financial support allowed providing assistance to 1,004
flood affected households in the provinces of Houet, Comoe and Leraba in
sleeping mats, blankets, clothes and hygiene kits. IFRC has also
extended its emergency appeal for West Africa to assist flood victims in
Burkina Faso. An additional 415,000 Swiss francs (about $350,000) have
been added to the budget, to support the distribution of emergency
relief to nearly 13,000 people. So, this Emergency Appeal has been
revised, and IFRC now seeks a total of $2,505, in cash, kind, or
services to assist 94,825 beneficiaries in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo
for 6 months.

Mali

Torrential rains that fell in Mali late July cased nine deaths and
affected 42,662 including 4,576 homeless, according to authorities. In a
declaration released on 22 September, the Government stated that 17
people were injured, 4,829 houses collapsed and 3,778 hectares of
cropped farmed flooded.

Response

The Malian government through its Civil Protection Office launched on 2
October a request to receive non food items from OCHA stocks at
Brindisi, Italy. The stock composed of tents, blankets, purification
water kits among other things is estimated at $504,155.86. In addition,
the CERF has approved a WFP and UNICEF request of USD 1,017,103 for the
assistance of 20,000 for a three-month period.

Note:

(1) Breakdown of flood related figures is annexed to the report.

Attachments:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&docid=3026A516DC51900AC1257371004953CD&file=Full_Report.pdf

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