A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
On 21 August 2014, the Bibémi, a district, located some 64 km from the town of Garoua (capital of the North Region of Cameroon) experienced heavy rainfall (about 180 mm of precipitation), which led to widespread flooding, extensive destruction, and affected more than 250,000 people. Further to the flooding, the situation worsened, following a cholera outbreak. From 18 to 28 August 2014, Cameroon Red Cross (CRC) volunteers carried out an assessment, and identified 77 cases and eight deaths in the six districts affected by the epidemic. On 8 September 2014, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) allocated CHF 179,304 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the CRC respond to the needs of the floodaffected population and the epidemic. The DREF operation was initially intended to support 26,380 people in six districts (Bibémi, Figuil, Mayo Oulo, Guider, Pitoa and Touboro) with health and care, shelter and settlements, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities over a period of three months.
On 28 November 2014, following a mid-term detailed assessment, an additional allocation of CHF 128,832 was released, and an extension of the timeframe made (to five months), in order to expand the activities planned in the following sectors:
Mobilization/training of an additional 50 volunteers; and five supervisors to reinforce community outreach / awareness-raising activities in the existing areas (Bibémi, Figuil, Guider, Mayo-Oulo, Pitoa, and Touboro), due to the fact that the population was opposed to improved sanitation/hygiene practices.
Mobilization/training of an additional 130 volunteers and 13 supervisors to extend activities planned into six areas where new cases had been reported (Garoua I, Garoua II, Gashiga, Golombé, Rey Bouba and Tcholiré). Please refer to “Need analysis and scenario planning” for information.
Extension of the mission (by one month) of an IFRC Regional Disaster Response Team (RDRT) member to ensure the effective implementation of the DREF operation.
Following the expansion of the DREF operation, it was expected therefore that the DREF operation would support an additional 26,000 people, increasing the target population 52,380 across the twelve areas. Please refer to Operations Update n°1 for information on the revisions made to the DREF operation.
The Canadian Red Cross / Government have contributed to the replenishment of the allocation made for this DREF operation. The major donors and partners of DREF include the Australian, American and Belgian governments, the Austrian Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross and government, Danish Red Cross and government, DG ECHO, the Irish and the Italian governments, the Japanese Red Cross Society, the Luxembourg government, the Monaco Red Cross and government, the Netherlands Red Cross and government, the Norwegian Red Cross and government, the Spanish Government, the Swedish Red Cross and government, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Medtronic and Z Zurich Foundations, and other corporate and private donors. IFRC, on behalf of Cameroon Red Cross Society, would like to extend thanks to all partners for their continued support.