Period covered by this Operation Update: 1 February to 15 May 2013
Appeal target (current): CHF 1,753,139
Appeal coverage: To date, the appeal is 81 per cent covered in cash and kind. The IFRC DREF allocation has been replenished.
Appeal history:
· This Emergency Appeal was launched on 8 August 2012 for CHF 1,753,139 to support Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) to assist 9,500 families (47,500 beneficiaries) for 10 months. The initial operation aimed to complete by 7 June 2013. However, considering the on-going works as well as follow-up activities, the operation asked for a timeframe extension and will continue until 30 September 2013. Thus, A Final Report will be available by 31 December 2013 (three months after the end of operation).
· On 4 July, CHF 241,041 was allocated from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC’s) Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) in delivering immediate assistance to 5,000 families (25,000 beneficiaries) in eight districts: Bandarban, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Sylhet, Sunomganj, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Jamalpur.
Summary
Torrential rain starting from 23 June 2012 resulted in floods and landslides, claiming lives and causing the destruction of homesteads and significantly affecting 10 districts in the country’s northern and south-eastern parts. Initially, the districts of Bandarban, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Sylhet, Sunomganj, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Jamalpur were the most affected. Continual rain in Bogra and Sirajganj resulted in flooding as well. The two districts were not covered under the initial DREF operation. The assistance provided by government and other humanitarian organizations have been inadequate.
Government statistics on 31 July 2012 reported 131 deaths (125 in the country’s north-east and south-eastern hilly regions and six in the northern districts of the country). On 7 July the government’s Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Office (DRRO) reported that a total of 1,029,695 families were affected across 74 upazilas (sub-districts). On 31 July, the Disaster Management Information Centre (DMIC) reported that 352,750 families had been affected across 10 districts.
As of 19 July, the first phase of distributions in eight districts for 5,000 families was completed. The operation addressed the shelter and health components and provided cash support to affected families. Detailed assessments by BDRCS highlighted the needs for extended relief in these eight districts, as well as in two additional districts affected by flooding which occurred after the approval of the initial DREF. Therefore, the operation expanded to assist a total of 9,500 families including the initial 5,000 families in terms emergency shelter, health and cash support for basic food items. Relief distribution for the remaining 4,500 families had been completed in the five districts of Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra, Shirajganj and Shunamganj.
During the emergency phase, approximately 8,500 people were supported with safe drinking water in remote geographical locations with limited access to water. WASH needs were subsequently identified for the early recovery phase and the WASH cluster with its active members such as Oxfam, Muslim Aid, and Water Aid (who have in-country expertise on WASH) have been implementing WASH related activities. The installation of shallow tube wells in some northern districts remains with BDRCS/IFRC.
In addition to on-going relief support, a joint needs assessment was conducted in collaboration with the government by three humanitarian cluster leads: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), IFRC, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the southern districts of Bandarban, Chittagong, and Cox’s Bazaar to explore needs for long-term intervention. Based on the joint needs assessment, an early recovery cluster – a common strategy in implementation of livelihood activities – was developed. Based on the assessment as well as the agreed implementation strategy, the humanitarian agencies involved in Bangladesh submitted coordinated proposals to DG ECHO for potential funding. IFRC has been awarded co-funding to support 8,000 families in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazaar and Bandarban for cash-based interventions such as cash for work, cash for training and unconditional cash grants. In addition, based on the household economic security (HES) assessment in the northern part of the country, BDRCS/IFRC is supporting 1,000 families in terms of unconditional cash grants.
Beneficiary selection and the necessary preparation in Northern districts of Gaibandha and Kurigram for cash transfer like cash grant ID form preparation, bank account opening by the BDRCS district units nearest to the beneficiary community, cash transfer planning was completed during the last reporting period. During this reporting period, 1,000 families received cash through banks. The distribution started on 6 February and completed on 13 February 2013.
BDRCS district units have prepared a pool of volunteers to monitor the cash for work (CFW) programme. As of 15 May 2013, about 3,860 beneficiaries out of 4,000 have started CFW in three districts. Among those, 2,200 beneficiaries have received their full share of money (BDT 5,000) as they have completed their 25-day working cycle. And the rest are near to complete 25 days and had already received partial share of their wage.
The training of trainers’ (ToT) trained volunteers with technical support from the BDRCS/IFRC project staff has conducted beneficiary level training. As of 15 May 2013, 101 batches of training covering 3,040 beneficiaries were completed. Out of these 3,040 about 2,200 beneficiaries received cash for training (CFT) and the rest will receive shortly. Meanwhile, 700 beneficiaries received unconditional cash grant (UCG) in Ramu Upazila of Cox’s Bazar district.
In order to ensure that the cash based programme is successful, BDRCS and IFRC assisted beneficiaries in ensuring they were able to benefit from the programme. This included cash grant ID forms with photos, collecting national identity cards and helping to open a bank account nearest to their home. All these steps took more time than was initially anticipated, thus delaying the cash based programme in the field.
Regular disruptions due to the general strike1, this has direct impact in population movements, large and small, in turn hampering and at times altogether restricting project implementation and monitoring at the field level by the staff and volunteers. Though BDRCS maintains bank account in district level, as the beneficiary villages are far away from district town, BDRCS has opened separate bank account nearest to the beneficiary locations and the cash is being transferred to that bank account. Due to the frequent strikes, cash transfer from BDRCS national headquarters (NHQ) to the field level banks did not happened according to the plan and payment did not take place in time which causes delay in starting new CFW schemes. Nationwide strikes as detailed above have created a “liquidity crisis” for local bank branches causing delays in payments to beneficiaries in turn slowing the overall project pace.
The initial operation was expected to complete by 7 June 2013. However, considering challenges faced by the BDRCS/IFRC for the livelihoods component, the operation timeframe has been extended to 30 September 2013. A Final Report will be available by 31 December 2013 (three months after the end of operation).