A. Situation analysis
On 3 March 2015 at 2300hrs, hail storms accompanied by strong winds and heavy rainfall hit the villages of Mwakata, Magung’unhwa and Nhumbi in Msalala district, Shinyanga region. The villages are located 20 kilometers from Kahama town, 75 kilometers from Shinyanga town and 1,000 kilometers North-West of Dar es Salaam.
According to Tanzania Red Cross Society (TRCS), as of 5 March 2015, up to 5,000 people have been affected. A total of which 3,500 persons have been displaced after the storms damaged or destroyed 634 houses. It is reported that 47 persons lost their lives and 112 persons escaped with injuries majority of whom are children after the strong winds ripped off the roofs from the houses.
On 10 March 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) allocated CHF115, 885 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Tanzania Red Cross Society (TRCS) respond to the immediate needs of 3,000 people (500 households) in the areas of emergency shelter and non-food items (NFIs), health and care, for a period of 3 months.
On 14 May 2015, an Operations Update n° 1 was issued to provide an update on the progress of the operation as well as extend the timeframe by additional 6 weeks (new end date: 30 June 2015) to allow for the completion of NFI distributions, and outstanding Open Data Kit (ODK) training. This was due to unavoidable delays in the customs clearance and delivery of some NFIs from the IFRC East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands regional representation. The NFIs have since arrived in country; and replenished those that have been used in the DREF operation.