A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
From 24 July – 3 August 2015, rainfall in Guinea resulted in heavy flooding that caused casualties and significant property damage, in several localities including Beyla, Conakry, Forécariah, Macenta, Siguiri and Télimélé. In the region of Conakry, in the six prefectures of all five communes namely Matoto Dixinn, Ratoma, Kaloum, Matam, were severely affected by the floods. According to the joint assessments 29,599 people were affected, of which 4,925 households had lost their homes. Most of the areas affected had suffered from cholera epidemics in the past and were at risk again and there was need for early control since the health facilities in the country had already been impacted by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak that was declared in March 2014.
On 12 August 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 130,603 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Red Cross Society of Guinea (RCSG) respond to the immediate needs of 1,500 households (9,000 people) affected by the floods, with interventions in the areas of emergency relief, shelter, health and care, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion for a period of three months. On 19 October 2015, an Operations Update was issued to extend the timeframe of the DREF operation by one month to enable the completion of activities planned, which had been complicated following the re-evaluation of the situation, and preparedness for presidential elections (scheduled in October 2015), which had resulted in violence.
Please note that following a re-evaluation of the situation there were revisions made by the RCSG on the use of the DREF allocation that though were approved by the IFRC Guinea Country Delegation; were not authorized as per the agreed DREF procedures and guidelines by the DREF Appeal Manager (in Geneva). It has been agreed (by the DREF Appeal Manager) that the expenditures outside of the agreed budget can be considered as eligible as they reflected a need to revise the activities planned to ensure they were relevant and appropriate to the needs of the affected population; and also resulted in an increase in the expenditures incurred for direct beneficiary related costs versus support costs. The IFRC Guinea Country Delegation and RCSG have received a reminder of the DREF guidelines and procedures, as in future, any non-compliance will result in expenditures being disallowed.
This DREF has been partially replenished by the Netherlands Red Cross DG Echo and the Canadian Red Cross/Govt.
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 other corporate and private donors. The IFRC, on behalf of the Red Cross Society of Guinea would like to extend many thanks to all partners for their generous contributions.