Period covered by this operations update: 19 November 2013 – 10 February 2014.
Appeal target (current): This revised emergency appeal seeks CHF 1,730,251 (including CHF 57,191 for shelter cluster coordination) in cash, kind or services to support the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society so it can assist 8,000 families (approximately 40,000 beneficiaries) for nine months. The operation is expected to be completed by the end of February 2014. A final report will be available by the end of May 2014.
Appeal coverage: The appeal is approximately 71 per cent covered.
Appeal history: On 18 May 2013, CHF 305,688 was allocated from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (IFRC) Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support Bangladesh Red Crescent Society for assisting 20,000 beneficiaries for three months. Subsequently, an emergency appeal was launched on 24 May 2013 for CHF 2,789,432 to assist 9,000 families (approximately 45,000 beneficiaries) over a nine-month period. The appeal was reduced -based on the results of needs assessment – on 17 July 2013 to a budget of CHF 1,730,251 in support of 8,000 families.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As the Cyclone Mahasen approached Bangladesh – which hit ten central-west coastal districts on 16 May 2013 – Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) disseminated early warning to the people living in the coastal districts and was able to evacuate 1.1 million people to cyclone shelters with the help of volunteers and staff of its cyclone preparedness programme. The cyclone had left behind 17 dead and nearly 1.5 million people bereft of their houses and livelihoods.
The Humanitarian Coordination Task Team and Consultative Group activated phase three of the joint needs assessment for shelter, WASH and early recovery activities in Barguna, Bhola, and Patuakhali districts. The assessment revealed that only 31 per cent of the affected households had begun reconstructing their houses, and 67 per cent of the affected households were unable to access sanitary facilities. The Emergency Appeal and its operational plan was in place, with changing priorities on the ground, to support 4,000 families in the three most affected districts of Patuakhali, Barguna and Bhola in relief phase, and to further support 2,800 families from the districts of Patuakhali and Barguna in early recovery period.
In the emergency, IFRC has provided 4,000 families with tarpaulins, water jerry cans and BDT 2,000 during the initial days and has continued to support BDRCS in its early recovery operations. Some of our major preparatory early-recovery activities include: hosting planning meetings in the district units, deploying national and regional disaster response teams, selecting beneficiaries, conducting a baseline survey, selecting cash transfer modality, finalizing the latrine design, and setting up field offices.
In the recovery period, a total of 2,800 beneficiaries received support in shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, livelihood and disaster risk reduction (DRR). A total of 1,400 families have received shelter support and 700 of them also received latrine superstructure materials. Added to the support, different tools like PASSA and PHAST were facilitated by the BDRCS with support from IFRC. The capacity building process for the community people was through training and dissemination of IEC materials. All the 2,800 families received hygiene kits during this reporting period. Cash grants were provided to the shelter and livelihood beneficiaries according to the shelter and early recovery cluster’s recommendation following IFRC’s standard procedure. Livelihood support was provided to 1,400 beneficiaries as conditional grants, for identified livelihood activities. Out of these 1,400 families, 700 received livelihood support in Cash for Work (CfW) scheme and the rest of the 700 people received cash for training and income generation. Saplings were distributed to 1,400 beneficiaries in Barguna district while distribution couldn’t take place in Patuakhali due to non-availability of saplings in that district.