A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
On 26 March 2015 the Saudi-led coalition started an air bombardment campaign targeting the positions of the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen. The following months saw an escalation in air bombardment in the capital Sanaa, Hadramouth, Sa
ada, Taiz, and many other areas in Yemen, which affected an estimated 500,000 people, including 244,000 Somali registered refugees according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As a result, Somali and Yemeni nationals and other third country nationals affected by the crisis begun to flee the country through the ports of Al Mukalla and Mukha in Yemen. The Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) supported by IFRC and the ICRC mobilized its staff and volunteers in Berbera and Bosaso branches to respond to the crisis. The services provided by the SRCS included first aid, primary health care through the mobile health clinics, hygiene and sanitation at the reception centres, vaccination of the new arrivals (adults and children), Restoration of Family Links (RFL), distribution of food and non-food items, referral of cases to the hospitals, assistance of people with special needs in evacuation from the vessels and handling their luggage through the port. The SRCS branches in Bosaso and Berbera in collaboration with the respective Ministries of Health (MoH), World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) administered polio and measles vaccinations on the new arrivals and screened the children to determine their nutrition status. In addition, SRCS volunteers distributed water and wet meals and refreshments provided by the Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council, Tadamun Social Society and other local NGOs. While at Bosaso reception centre, the SRCS branch supported by IFRC provided wet meals for 60 SRCS volunteers assisting new arrivals at the reception centre in Berber © SRCS people on arrival. There was one reception centre in Bosaso town and another one had planned to be opened by the Puntland Ministry of Interior and the Inter-Agency Task Force led by UNHCR and IOM in an existing building to accommodate the increasing number of the arrivals, however, the centre was never opened. In Berbera there were two reception centres, however due to the low number of the new arrivals, the second reception centre was not fully operational by the end of the DREF operation. The reception centres were managed by the Inter-Agency Task Force led by UNHCR and International Organization of Migration (IOM) in coordination with the local authorities, while the SRCS provided hygiene and sanitation services to keep the reception centres clean. The returnees and refugees were registered at the reception centres under the supervision of UNHCR.
On 23 April 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 43,330 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) to respond to the needs of the 2,000 refugees/returnees arriving in Bosaso and Berbera ports, for a period of two months. According to the Inter-Agency Task Force which included the UN agencies, International NGOs, SRCS and the government of Somaliland and Puntland, it was anticipated that an estimated 43,000 new returnees/refugees will arrive through Berbera, Bosaso and Mogadishu ports between May and September 2015. The Inter-Agency Task Force expressed concerns about the increasing needs of the new arrivals and the need to do more to assist in the delivery of the services to the refugees/returnees. On 2 July 2015, an Operations Update was issued, which extended the timeframe of the DREF operation by two months (New end date: 23 August 2015) and released an additional allocation of CHF 29,719 to enable SRCS continue responding to the on-going influx of refugees/returnees in Berbera (Somaliland) and Bosaso (Puntland) increasing the number of target population from 2,000 to 5,000 people.
The DREF was replenished by DG ECHO, the German Red Cross, Netherlands Red Cross/Silent Emergencies Fund and Tsunami Residual Funding. 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, Zurich and Coca Cola Foundations and other corporate and private donors. The IFRC, on behalf of the Somali Red Crescent Society would like to extend many thanks to all partners for their generous contributions.