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Ecuador

Ecuador: Floods OCHA Situation Report No. 5

Attachments

This situation report is based on information received from the Office of the Resident Coordinator, UN Agencies, the Ecuadorian Government, the UN Emergency Technical Team (UNETT) in Quito and OCHA Regional Office in Panama.

HIGHLIGHTS

- Some 60,000 families have been affected by the floods. Currently, approximately 3,000 families (some 13, 000 persons) are in a total of 302 shelters.

- Mesas sectoriales (sectoral working groups) have issued their priority needs per sector.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

1. During the last two weeks, floods in the country have affected 13 provinces of Ecuador. According to the INAMHI (National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology), rains will continue, with major intensity in some provinces. Continued rains and related flooding have resulted in the collapse of bridges over the Moraspungo, Santa Rosa, and Japara Rivers in Cotopaxi Province.

2. Increased water levels are endangering the dam in Montalvo, Los Ríos Province, as well as the dam in Posahonda, affecting the population of Santa Ana and Portoviejo, Manabi Province. Flooding has adversely affected water and electricity services. An urgent government's assessment mission was deployed to Zaruma for an evaluation of landslides and water contamination risks.

3. The distribution of humanitarian aid continues.

Activities of the National Task Force included the delivery of 10,200 food rations, mattresses, as well as blankets to the sheltered and non-sheltered affected population in the provinces of Guayas, Manabi and El Oro in close coordination with the Civil Defense and local communities.

NATIONAL RESPONSE

Coordination

4. The mesas sectoriales (sectoral working groups) have been working intensively this week to consolidate their action plans and list priority needs per sector. The mesas sectoriales continue to meet on a regular basis on Mondays and Thursdays every week. A weekly meeting of the mesas sectoriales leads takes place every Thursday and is chaired by representatives of the Armed Forces (in charge of the overall coordination of the emergency response). This week, the mesas presented their latest updates on the emergency situation, their respective plans of action and priority needs (see annex I).

5. In terms of field coordination, the mesas sectoriales have established close contact with the Provincial Emergency Operations Centres (COEs) which on their part are in close contact with the cantonal COEs and the municipalities to ensure a continued flux of information.

6. The UNDAC Team is working in close cooperation with the Regional COE in Guayaquil to improve information management and promote a more structured and standardize approach to the situation analysis and needs identification. In this regard, UNDAC team members are planning to conduct a half-day training session next week aimed a providing Leads of the Regional COEs with a short introduction on information management, structuring of operation centers, coordination in emergencies, and damage evaluation and needs assessment (EDAN).

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