Summary: CHF 298,830 has been allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Central African Republic Red Cross in delivering immediate assistance to some 13,700 beneficiaries (2,740 families). Un-earmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.
Since end of August 2012, continuous rain has led to localized floods in several places in the Central African Republic, causing collapsed and damaged houses and loss of property and livelihoods. This has resulted in a number of displaced people in several locations. Some of the affected population live with host families while others currently live in the open air. In both cases the hygiene and sanitation measures are inadequate, which poses a critical health risk to the displaced population.
Official figures of the total affected population are still not available, but the Central Africa Republic Red Cross (CAR RC) has conducted rapid assessments of the affected areas and identified 2,740 families in urgent need of immediate assistance. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will initiate food distributions, and the CAR is planning non-food distributions, emergency shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene and health interventions after an official request from the government of CAR directly to the CAR RC and the IFRC.
Climate related disasters like these floods are recurring events in CAR, and to address this issue the CAR RC is planning to conduct vulnerability and capacity assessments in the affected areas which can be used for planning of long-term interventions that can contribute to the disaster risk reduction and strengthen the resilience of the affected communities. However, this does not eliminate the urgent need for immediate assistance to the people affected by these floods.