Ref: OCHA/GVA – 2006/0035
OCHA Situation Report No. 7
Bolivia - Floods
This situation report is based on information provided to OCHA by the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Bolivia and the UNDAC team deployed in Santa Cruz and La Paz.
Situation
1. In January and February 2006, continuous serious floods triggered by heavy rains affected several departments across Bolivia. The most damaged areas are located in the departments of Santa Cruz, La Paz and Beni. The Government declared a state of emergency at the beginning of February and appealed for international assistance.
2. In the Santa Cruz department, more effective management of emergency shelters, mainly in San Julian is needed. Due to the constant movement of families, it is difficult to determine the number of affected persons. Based on the work of sectoral groups in Santa Cruz, it is believed than an approximate 2,379 families are currently receiving assistance in some of the 18 shelter camps identified in Santa Cruz department.
In San Julian’s municipality, thematic groups composed of representatives of the Prefecture, Municipality, local actors involved in assistance and representatives of the community, are meeting on a daily basis to deal with the organisation and management of emergency shelters.
Bad weather conditions and rain are continuing in this area and that could delay the return of affected families to their original place of living. Therefore, the number of affected families is likely to increase. These continuing rains also prevented the observation flights needed to examine the river water flow and its trajectory. However, new flights organized by OXFAM GB were initiated recently.
3. Excessive rainfall has caused floods and affected many communities also in the departments of Beni and Pando. These two departments are more scarcely populated than Santa Cruz and La Paz. Given the time of the year many people are said to be outside the urban areas to harvest in rural areas. Due to the dispersion of the population it is complicated to organize distributions to targeted groups. Riberalta is an area of concern, with 1800 families in urgent need of food. The province of Vacadiez is not receiving assistance so far.
Impact
4.
Affected families
|
Persons in shelter
|
Houses affected
|
Houses destroyed
|
|
Beni |
4,118
|
400
|
||
Pando |
1,388
|
1,100
|
420
|
80
|
(Information provided by the Operational Center for Emergencies of the Prefecture of Pando and by the Civil Defence of Beni)
5. In the Pando department, a major problem is the inaccessibility by road of Cobija. The airstrip of Cobija is in reconstruction and not accessible for larger planes. Assistance is therefore coming to Pando via the airfield in Riberalto and is further transported by boats along the 3 rivers.
Needs
6. According to the report received by UNDAC team in Santa Cruz, the food needs for the next 90 days minimum have to be determined, as well as the necessity to build more emergency shelters especially for affected families that are currently evacuating the flooded areas and going to the existing emergency shelters.
7. The following additional needs have been identified:
Shelter
a. Verify installation of latrines;
b. Verify electricity and water needs, by designating focal points for camps (SEDEGES, municipalities);
c. Pando: tents for tropical climate are needed.
Food
In Santa Cruz there are enough food supplies to last until mid-April. In Pando and Beni there is an urgent need of food as no new provision is coming in by road.
- Improve quality of food supplies for children;
- Improve food distribution in municipalities, including camps and isolated zones.
Health
- Safe drinking water, especially in Pando;
- Purifying water tablets, especially for education institutions;
- Mosquito nets and other preventive measures against malaria, dengue and yellow fever (Pando);
- Organise a massive vaccination programme for children under 2;
- Psycho social support to the population by distributing audiovisual material and kits about leisure time management.
Rehabilitation
In Santa Cruz department, the Prefectures and municipalities are preparing projects for the donors. These include the presentation of an action plan regarding rehabilitation of infrastructures (roads). An integral programme for the rehabilitation of flooded areas has also been presented.
Damage to agriculture has been reported as follows:
- A total of 103.000 ha of field have been flooded (64.000 ha of corn, soya, sorghum and rice; 30.000 of pasture and 3.000 of other crops).
In Pando, tools and shovels to repair houses and infrastructure are needed urgently.
National response
8. Operational Center for Emergencies (COE) and Civil Defense in Pando, Bolivian Red Cross and National Rescue and Emergency Unit in both Pando and Beni are involved in delivering relief.
9. Bolivian Red Cross (with support from IFRC) has distributed hygiene kits and food to more than 2000 families along the rivers Beni and Manurpi (southwestern region of the Beni department). Bolivian Red Cross has also distributed relief in the municipality of San Borja, Reyes and Rurrenabaque.
International Response
10. The following organizations are providing relief:
- Caritas
- UNICEF
- USAID
- ADRA
- World Vision
- OPS/OMS
- WFP
11. In the Santa Cruz department, the in-kind donations’ total goes up to 111 tonnes. This does not include last donations (from Brazil and Venezuela).
12. The UNDAC team in San Julian/Santa Cruz is leaving on 1st March for La Paz, after a debriefing with local authorities. An On-site Operations Coordination Center (OSOCC) continues working in Santa Cruz and San Julian.
13. OCHA remains in close contact with the office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and will continue reporting as further information is made available.
14. This situation report, together with the information on contributions and other ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int
Map: Bolivia: Floods - Situation map
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