A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
Since 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. As of 5 October 2015, according to the Government of Sierra Leone through the Office of National Security (ONS) the total affected population in the five districts has reached 24,303, with the summary as follows: Bo (3,293), Bonthe (4,650) and Port Loko (1,510), Freetown (14,050) and Pujehun (800).
In Freetown, an estimated 14,050 people were displaced and staying in the Attouga Mini Football Stadium and National Football Stadium; however the conditions in both of these sites were 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 have evacuated to nearby communities, seeking refuge with relatives or in public buildings (government buildings, mosques, schools etc.). In many of the more remote affected communities, assistance had not reached the affected population, leaving them exposed to the continuing rains. On 14 September 2015, the GoS 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 hygiene promotion.
On 12 October 2015, Operation update no 1 was issued and additional allocation of CHF 196,950 was approved 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.
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.
Financial situation:
“Shelter-Relief” was underspent by CHF 20,999, which equates to 62 per cent as at the time of release of the report, items procured through the GLS and stock items released from the pre-positioned items at the regional office had not been booked.
“Clothing and textiles” was underspent CHF 24,294, which equates to 59 per cent items procured through the GLS and stock items released from the pre-positioned items at the regional office had not been booked.
“Distribution & Monitoring” was overspent by CHF 7,324, which equates to 7,324 per cent; and was due that the budget was captured under “logistics services” and budgeted for CHF 7,900
“Workshops & Trainings” was overspent by CHF 15,593, which equates to 152 per cent; and was due to additional induction sessions for volunteers.
“Travel” was overspent by CHF 18,354, which equates to 305 per cent; as additional travel was incurred by operation review team and additional costs were also incurred by regional team that delivered the items from Dakar who had to spend additional days on the road.
“Information and Public Relations” was Overspent by 4,723 and was due to the fact that the activities were budgeted under ‘communication’ and also there was need for additional publicity activities aimed to sensitize the public, national and international media and donors on the situation, needs on the ground and the humanitarian response. A balance of CHF 148,813 will be returned to the DREF.