Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Mauritania

Mauritania: Floods DREF Bulletin No. MDRMR001

Attachments

The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 185 countries.
In Brief

This DREF Bulletin is being issued based on the situation described below reflecting the information available at this time. CHF 60,000 (USD 49,000 or EUR 38,000) has been allocated from the Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to enable the Mauritanian Red Crescent to respond to the needs in this operation. This operation is expected to be implemented over 4 months, and will be completed by 27 November, 2006; a Final Report will be made available three months after the end of the operation. Unearmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.

This operation is aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".

Global Agenda Goals:

Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.

Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.

The situation

Since the beginning of July, heavy rains have been pouring down in the region of Brakna, South-eastern part of Nouakchott, Mauritania, flooding the region and leaving several families homeless. The worst came with a storm in the night of 22 July, killing seven people among them five members of the same family including two children, who perished in the village of Ednesh, 19 people were injured. The wind and flooding have left about 320 families homeless in several villages and towns with Boutilimit, 150 km away from Nouakchott, being the most affected.

The state radio has reported that the severe storms and flooding in this part of the arid and dry country, which experiences these kinds of hazards during the rainy season, will last until October. The city of Aleg alone recorded 102 ml of rain that caused flooding, with about 160 displaced families accommodated in provisional shelters in schools. Most of these populations have also lost their crops and most of their belongings. In response, the state has set up a crisis committee that deployed a team right after the storm struck and distributed food items, about 150 tents and blankets.

Despite efforts made by local social services, officials said that additional attention needs to be focused on sanitation to help stem the spread of diseases as fears of epidemics such as cholera loom in the region.

For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:

In Mauritania: Mohamedou Ould Raby, Secretary General, Mauritanian Red Crescent, Nouakchott; Email: mraby06@yahoo.fr; Phone +222.521.00.37; Fax + 222.529.12.2

In Senegal: Alasan Senghore, Federation Head of West and Central Africa Regional Delegation, Dakar; Email: alasan.senghore@ifrc.org; Phone +221.869.36.41; Fax +221.860.20.02

In Geneva: Madeleine Lundberg, Federation Regional Officer for West and Central Africa, Africa Dept; Email: madeleine.lundberg@ifrc.org; Phone +41.22.730.43.35; Fax +41.22.733.03.95

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering quality and accountable assistance to the most vulnerable.

For longer-term programmes in this or other countries or regions, please refer to the Federation's Annual Appeal. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for national society profiles, please also access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org

(pdf* format - 45.7 KB)