A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
In early September 2015, the Bo, Bonthe, Freetown, Port Loko and Pujehun districts in the southern provinces of Sierra Leone experienced flooding due to torrential rains which led to widespread destruction. According to the Government of Sierra Leone Office of National Security (ONS) the total affected population in the five districts reached 24,303 as of October 2015: Bo (3,293), Bonthe (4,650) and Port Loko (1,510), Freetown (14,050) and Pujehun (800).
In Freetown, an estimated 14,050 displaced people are staying in the Attouga Mini Football Stadium and National Football Stadium; however the conditions in these sites are not satisfactory – with limited access to safe drinking water, poor sanitary facilities, and the risk of epidemic outbreaks (Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD), cholera, Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) etc.).
In the Bo, Bonthe, Port Loko and Pujehun districts, people evacuated to nearby communities, seeking refuge with relatives or in public buildings (government buildings, mosques, schools etc.). In many of the more remote communities, assistance had not reached the affected population, leaving them exposed to the continuing rains. On 14 September 2015, the government appealed to humanitarian organisations to help in assisting the affected population.
On 18 September 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 88,050 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Sierra Leone Red Cross respond to the needs of 2,630 people (567 families), affected by flooding in Bo and Pujehun districts for a period of three months, specifically in the areas of health and care, shelter and settlements, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion.
On 12 October 2015, Operation update no 1 was issued announcing an additional allocation of CHF 196,950 bringing a total allocation of CHF 285,000 for the DREF Sierra Leone floods operation to enable the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) to expand its activities to meet the needs of families in the city of Freetown (East End and West End), and the chiefdoms of Bonthe and Port Loko, which were also experiencing extensive flooding. In total, 24,303 beneficiaries/people i.e. (4,051 households) were reached through this DREF operation. Operations update no 2 was issued on 18 December 2015 to extend the timeframe of the DREF operation by six weeks and to enable the completion of an operational review exercise. This report is being issued as preliminary, because some expenditures were booked only recently, and require time for financial systems to reflect them. A final report will be re-issued next month with a final financial report.
This operation was partially replenished by Canadian Red Cross /DFATD. 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. The IFRC, on behalf of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society would like to extend many thanks to all partners for their generous contributions.