SYLHET. Phase 1 Rapid Emergency Assessment

Transcription

1 SYLHET Phase 1 Rapid Emergency Assessment Flash Flood in Sylhet June 25, 2012 Jointly assessed by Oxfam, DanchurchAid, Islamic Relief worldwide, Save the Children CRS, JASHIS, Simantik, FIVDB, IDEA, RDRS, VARD Coordinated by OXFAM July 2 nd 2012

2 Executive Summary Disaster Profile Heavy rains in south-eastern and north-eastern Bangladesh, starting on June 25 and lasting over five days have caused floods and catastrophic landslides, leaving at least 118 dead (as of June 29) and over 300,000 people without secure accommodation. This report focuses on the impact of the flooding in the district of Sylhet, and is accompanied by separate reports on the impact in Chittagong and in Sunamgonj Flash Floods set off by heavy rains and upstream torrents from Meghalaya in India have swamped vast stretches of land in Sylhet and other nearby districts of the country, leaving thousands of people marooned. The situation has affected 10 upazillas out of total 12 in Sylhet district in addition to some of the wards in Sylhet City Corporation. At the time of writing all the rivers in Sylhet division significantly exceed danger levels. So far, two people (including one 10 year-old boy) were found dead with an uspecified number of people injured. 8,028 people have taken shelter in 38 shelters opened by local government while an unspecified number are reported displaced and taking shelter in relative s houses. At the time of reporting figures are a little confused, but the administration in Sylhet has already allocated 50,000 metric tonnes of food grain out of which 27,000 metric tonnes are already distributed. In addition to this, it has already distributed BDT. 500,000 out of a total of BDT. 2,027,000 that it expects to distribute. Flood waters have completely destroyed 1,907 houses and partially damaged 14,938 houses. 39 government medical teams are providing health support including treatment and medicine to flood affected people. At the time of reporting, the district administration is continuing relief distribution and with their response believe that the overall situation is under control. It is closely observing the situation and taking necessary steps to manage the potential impact. The situation of the upazillas of Sylhet Sadar, Gowainghat, Jointapur, Kompaniganj, Kanaighat, Jokiganj, Bianibazar, Golapganj, Dakshin Surma, Bishwanath and Balaganj upazila and Sylhet town was thought to be improving slowly. At the time of writing, however, water started to enter again into low lying areas of Jokiganj and Biani Bazar upazila due to a breached in embankment prompting further concerns. Key findings (priorities groups, needs, and locations) Based on affected Upazilla reports, discussion with Upazilla Chairman, Upazilla Nirbahi Officer, Project Information Officer, Union Chairman, local people, local affected communities and 8 site visits, the major findings are as follows: 1. Seed-bed of Aman rice is destroyed. Due to this rice production will be severely affected by this flash flood, as it will prevent Aman planting due in July and reduce the harvest in November. 2. Livelihood options including agriculture, fishing, stone collection, day labour are suspended, resulting in a loss of income. These livelihoods are likely to restart once water levels subside. 3. Many households are reporting that their food storage has been destroyed, potentially leaving families with no food stocks between now and the November Aman harvest.

3 4. People s access to sanitary latrines has been affected as a result of the flooding. Prior to the flood more than 90% of people had access to sanitation including low cost options, but currently coverage has dropped to an estimated 65%. This means around 2.4m people have temporarily lost access to sanitation, it is too early to tell how many latrines will be usable once waters recede. 5. Access to safe water has similarly declined, from 83.6% (Source: Unicef 2009) before this flood to an estimated 60% at the current time. This suggests around 2.3m people have lost access to safe water. Most of the pre-flood water options including Shallow Tube Well (STW), Deep tube well (DTW) and in some cases Ring well/dug well are affected, but should be restorable with disinfection once waters recede. Current water options are not properly treated to produce safe water. Most of the water options have an Iron content above acceptable limits and arsenic contamination is also reported in few unions. 6. There are existing supplies of water purification tablets but some sources report that these are near their expiry date. Further investigation is needed to see if these will be used up within the expiry period, or whether this is a longer term problem. 7. A high proportion of the homes of the poor and extreme poor are reported damaged. These homes are least likely to be flood resistant. Almost all affected people who took shelter are now returning to their homes to make repairs. 8. Some affected HHs are already reporting taking loans from others to meet basic needs and to support immediate repairs to their shelters. Approximately, 80% of the extreme poor and 50% of poor affected people report taking loans in the last few days. Due to a lack of income demographics it s unclear what numbers are affected, and phase 2 assessments will address this. 9. During the flooding, many people have taken shelter in the nearby schools, Colleges, Madrasa and flood shelters but due to rapid onset and nature of the flooding, they have been in the main unable to protect valuable/productive assets. 10. Many affected people report that their earthen stoves were destroyed by the waters, limiting access to cooking facilities. These can be replaced using local resources 11. Assessments suggest that many households had not taken preparedness steps, and so loss of assets was higher than it might have been, 12. Upazilla/District administration already distributed Rice and cash grants to the affected people and ready to provide more which are already allocated. 13. Most educational Institutions were closed during flash flood affected time but are now reopening 14. Most of the markets are functional. If cash is available, then respective product is also available. Price of essential commodities remains stable and affected people have limited purchasing power to access markets due to suspended or damaged income opportunities. 15. Most b. In general, some of the sub-districts of Sylhet are malaria prone area, in which 50 people, on an average, get victim of malaria per month. 16. Communication is functional though some roads were affected due to flash flood. 17. Livestock in some Upazillas has been displaced (for example on roads) appeared on the nearby road as flood is receding and HHs don t have enough space to accommodate their Livestock. Negative coping mechanisms such as selling of Livestock for the survival etc are not being reported at the current time. 18. In few cases, it has been observed that some people are practicing preparedness/coping mechanisms such as storing valuable assets in safe upper places before moving towards safe shelter as almost every year, they use to face this sort of flood.

4 Key messages recommendations for response/intervention Income generation has been severely affected in all sectors. WASH, Shelter and agricultural sectors are worst-affected. In addition, fish farming is also damaged due to this flash flood. Destruction of crops and fisheries will seriously affect income generation in the upcoming months. Secondary sectors, including van and rickshaw pullers, market traders and day labourers, are also badly affected, but this will be a short term impact. As per assessment, immediate crisis due to this flash flood is under control till now and the local government and administration are quite confident to manage the situation with their available resources in most cases. It is also anticipated that there might be some unaddressed issues (recovery of Aman seedlings, health hazard especially due to water borne diseases) might worsen in the coming few days. Moreover, heavy rain or further flash flood within short time has strong potential to make the situation worse potentially going beyond the capacity of the local administration. Major Recommendations Short term concern of the affected families remained focused on their food security whereas medium to longer term concern highlighted on the reconstruction and repair of their houses, latrines, tube wells and livelihoods. Immediate Agriculture inputs such as seedlings and fertilizer are required to enable current planting by marginal farmers and share croppers for the Aman rice. Income opportunities have been lost for most affected households for the past week, and current opportunities are being lost while family members engage themselves in house repair works, which were widely cited as a priority. This could be addressed through cash for work and/or conditional cash transfers. Short term safe drinking water is required, probably through disinfecting/cleaning/rehabilitating the available water sources at household and community level Provide immediate conditional grants for repairing the shelter for severely affected poor HHs Midterm Support the most affected households to rehabilitate their individual and community latrines Rehabilitate the water sources damaged by the flash flood Long term Advocacy to increase Safety net coverage in the affected We people here experience flash flood areas Enhance livelihood regularly but this year the water level was opportunities of the most quite high. But till now the situation is under affected HHs through cash control and the impact is not at that level grants, asset transfer. that we need external assistance Develop resilient and immediately, Alamgir Hossain, UNO, diversified livelihood options. Jakiganj. Advocacy with GoB to manage the pre-crisis data to understand the magnitude of the emergency

5 Strengthen local coordination mechanism Advocacy with GoB to rehabilitate the affected communication Infrastructure. Country profile and key indicators Division District Total Population Males Females Bangladesh (total) Sylhet division Sylhet district Source: GoB 2011 census Division District Number of Households Average household size Bangladesh (total) 32,067, Sylhet division 1,785, Sylhet district 596, Source: GoB 2011 census District River Station Danger Above Danger Level (DL) Rise + Name Level Fall (m) (cm) (cm) (cm) Meghna Basin Syhlet Surma Kanaighat Sylhet Surma Sylhet Syhlet Kushiyara Amalshid Syhlet Kushiyara Sheola Source: CDMP Hazards Bangladesh, as a disaster prone country experiences different disasters regularly such as flood, landslides, earthquake, cyclone, tidal surge, water logging, flash flood etc. Sylhet, as a north-eastern district of the country experiences flash flood, as it is close to Meghalaya of India which are mainly hilly area. In addition to this, Sylhet is also vulnerable to earthquake and flood in some cases due to its geographical context. Scope Disaster characteristics Flash Flood set off by heavy rains and upstream torrents from Meghalaya of India have swamped vast stretches of land in Sylhet and other nearby districts of the country, leaving thousands of people marooned. In addition, there is a high potential to deteriorate the flood condition in Sylhtet as the onrush of water from upstream is very likely to inundate most of the sub-districts located near to Indian border. As the river beds of surma and kushiare and their tributaries are silted up, so the prolonged water beyond danger limit might cause huge affect to Sylhet District. According to Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), the Brahmaputra, Dharla, Jamuna, Ghagot, Surma and Kushiara rivers flowed above the danger level on June 28, All the rivers in Sylhet division exceeded the danger mark.

6 Severity Situation of different Upazillas including Sylhet town was water logged for 02 days. The rivers are flowing above danger level but are receding people in 72 unions of 9 upazillas are affected earthen households are damaged totally while no of earthen households are partially damaged. Total 2 people, 1 person in Gowainghat upazila and 1 person (a child) died in Jointapur upazila people took shelter in 38 shelters, though almost all of them returned home by this time. 39 medical teams are providing health related support such as treatment and medicine to flood affected people and district administration is 0% Affected Population (% of total population) Balajanj 17% 14% 0% 1% 14% 0% 3% 1% 2% 14% 34% Golbganj Kanaighat Zakiganj Beani bazar South surma Fenchuganj Sylhet Sadar Gowainghat Jaintapur Biswanath Companiganj continuing relief distribution. Affected area profile Map of affected area

7 Table of appropriate administrative areas (district/province etc.) and pre disaster population Sylhet at a glance Area 3490 square km Upazila Road km Union Road km Population Population density 1045 people per sq. km No. of Upazilas 12 No. of Unions 101 No. of Pourashavas 4 No. of Primary Schools 1066 No. of High Schools 277 No. of Colleges 59 Literacy rate % Source: LGED Characteristics of the affected areas (livelihood, geographic characteristics, density, rural/urban, shelter types, etc...) Main occupations of the people are Agriculture 30.82%, agricultural labourer 15.59%, non agricultural labourer 7.33%, commerce 12.2%, transport 2.21%, construction 1.66%, house renting out 3.11%, fishing 3.6%, others (stone collector) 23.48%. Sylhet is nearby the Meghalaya province of India and partially hilly area. The area is always used to experience flash flood especially the Upazillas nearby Meghaloy. The average population density is more than 1045/Sq-km in rural area. In the rural area, most of the housings are kacha with few pacca housing. There are different types of shelter in Sylhet. Masonry and semimasonry buildings are here while mud houses, tin houses and bamboo made houses are popular in the rural area. But, the rural poor community lives in houses made of SHON (a type of leaf) which is strengthened with a mud layer. Affected population profile Estimate of affected population: injured, dead and missing Population affected 435,610 People in the shelters 8,028 (GoB shelters) Life loss 02 People injured Not available Missing No

8 Pre-disaster information: social and economicc vulnerabilities, strategies coping Flood is annual phenomena for the people of Sylhet living in downstream; thereforee people in the flood affected area have developed some coping skills to live with flood. Majority people were not worried when water started entering into the areas. They had kept their grains, perishable items and other assets on the raised places. Like every year they thought influx of water would come day-time and down within 1 day. But all on a sudden huge influx of on rush water entered at night and they hardly found time to save their properties in some areas, and thus lost everything including food reserves. Poor rushed towards the highways, embankments and any raised level surface. Peoplee opined that they had not seen such high flash flood over last 20 years especially in Jaintapur sub-district which is at the foot of the hilly area. Prior to the flood, the main source of food and income for the poorest livelihood group was stone collection and waged labour, and that s why these group of peoplee are under risks of losing livelihood due to limited scope of labour opportunities which is contributing into loss of daily income. Household food stocks vary between livelihood and socio-economic groups. The poorer households generally rely on daily purchases of food and do not have stocks. In addition, all the markets are functional and if the affected HHs get cash grants, then can access all the survival materials. Pre-disaster demographics, including sex and age disaggregated information Name of Subdistrict Male Population Femalee Total Area (Acre) No of union No of villages No of HH FENCHUGANJ BISHWANATH JAINTAIPUR GOLABGONJ GOWAIGHAT KANAIGHAT % of affected people in 5 severely affected Upazilla 50 74% Kanaighat 25 Zakiganj 25 49% 49% Gwainghat 0 24% Jaintapur Companigon j No of unions in the upazilla Moderately affected Severely affected

9 ZAKIGONJ BALAGONJ BEANIBAZAR COMPANIGANJ SYLHET SADAR SOUTH SURMA Relevant pre-disaster baseline information Main livelihoods are around Agriculture, agricultural labourer, non agricultural labourer, commerce, transport, construction, house renting out, fishing and others (stone collector) percentage of people involved is respectively 30.82%, 15.59%, 7.33%, 12.2%, 2.21%, f1.66%, 3.11%, 3.6%, and 23.48%. The data represents that around 77% of people are flood directly impacted by this flood. Health Liveliho od Prioritising Priority sectors needs 10 Water 9 Sanitati 5 6 on Shelter Sylhet is nearby the Meghalaya province of India and partially hilly area. The area is always used to experience flash flood especially the Upazillas nearby Meghaloy. The average population density is more than 1045/Sq-km in rural area. In the rural area, most of the housings are kacha with few pacca housing. There are different types of shelter in Sylhet. Masonry and semi-masonry buildings are here while mud houses, tin houses and bamboo made houses are popular in the rural area. But, the rural poor community lives in houses made of SHON (a type of leaf) which is strengthened with a mud layer. There are number of hospitals, clinics, EWC and Maternity centres in the districts. It includes 399 doctors, 581 nurses and 1425 no of beds. Sylhet district is under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Sylhet. There are 1 University of Science and Technology, 1 Engineering College and 1 Medical College. There are also a Cadet College, and a Law College. In addition to 4 private universities, it has 4 private medical colleges. Moreover, it has 1 polytechnic institute, 1 PTI, 35 colleges, 1 vocational training institute, 218 high schools, 1320 primary school and 148 madrasa. Sector trends, anticipated changes in need Presently, affected poor people are in badly need of shelter repairing support, WASH and access to food. However, livelihood and food security in the coming days will be crucial as most of the farmers have lost their standing Aus crops with damages of Aman seed field. Therefore, it is likely that emergency assistance support will be highly required for food and livelihood security in near future. As the affected area is prone to another round of flood during monsoon, WASH emergency support will be needed in future. As water borne disease outbreak is of high potential, so necessary medical support with adequate preventive support materials (ORS, WPT etc) will be highly needed to deal with the outbreak properly in near future. 2 4 Food

10 Sectoral lessons learnt Sector Agriculture/Food Water Sanitation & Hygine promotion Shelter livelihood Health Lessons Learnt 1. Diversity of the livelihood options could contribute more in coping mechanism for poor people to ensure food security immediately after any hazard. 2. Simple HH preparedness like keeping portable stove, some savings could improve the capacity of affected people to deal with the post disaster situation and reduce their sufferings. 3. Under the flash flood prone area, raised seedbed will play a significant impact. 1. Raised water option (Raised platform of TW) could be effective during flash flood time as the water has less chance to be contaminated. 2. Pre-crisis data preservation with regular update can provide a real gap after any disaster takes place. 1. Sanitation design option should be mainstreaming with DRR and sustainable so that people can use those during emergency. 2. Pre-crisis data preservation with regular update can provide a real gap after any disaster takes place. 3 Improved level of awareness of WASH is extremely important to ensure the safe drinking water, disaster resilient sanitation options and necessary hygiene promotion preventive measures. 1. Necessary advocacy need to be done to prepare disaster friendly shelter though in case of poor/extreme poor people, this might be a challenge. 1. Alternative livelihood options could bring a tremendous impact to the affected community. 1. Necessary awareness on hygiene promotion could bring a huge impact to the health especially during and after any hazard. Education 1. The design of the Educational institutes need to be mainstreamed with DRR and could be used as flood shelter. 2. Training on awareness on Disasters for Teachers, students and other staff could bring impact a lot with less damage of assets. Communication 1. Communication plays an important role to make functional of all the markets so as to get survival materials available for the affected people. Constraints Operational e.g. access, communication, infrastructure, security Although the flash flood has created damage to the roads, embankments and bridges in some severely affected sub-district. But as soon as the water started receding the accessibility was no longer a big problem. Even in the day of assessment, accessibility was not a big challenge to reach severely affected population in the report areas. Overall present security situation is good and no concern about it. No incidence has been reported yet, even in interior of severely affected areas. By this time, almost all affected people have returned to their home. Capacity national and international resources

11 Relief and rescue operations are being carried out by government and INGO but this is very minimal in comparison to the vast devastation and affected population. The government has stepped up a gear and has panned already to distribute to affected households 10kg of rice and TK for repairing house. This is likely to be repeated a further once. But, affected population express their concerns over mismanagement/misappropriation of aid and inappropriate targeting. Meetings with government officials suggest that they have the resources to meet the needs of the affected population. Information gaps and needs Further assessments In total, six INGOs along with their local partners put their resources in common and conducted IADS over the 5 unions in 5 Upazillas, gathering quantitative information only while very limited efforts were made to collect qualitative information. Quantitative information was obtained from Upazilla officials, Union Parishad directly in affected areas, as well as from the respective databases of the different NGOs involved. Qualitative information on the impacts of floods was collected in a limited scale through directly talking to affected community and direct observation in only three sites in the affected area. Therefore, this assessment lacks of qualitative information. Besides, time did not allow for proper understanding the actual gap in food security, DRR, WASH, long-term livelihoods though discussion with affected communities, LGIs, we got an overview information. An in-depth assessment is strongly recommended to minimise the information gap if we plan to go for response. Trends how the situation is likely to unfold Scenario Development It is anticipated that majority of affected households will bounce back to normal livelihoods just after 15 days to 30 days. But the Aush standing field crop has been severely damaged and farmers are not in position to resume AUSH cultivation as the season is over. Therefore, food security and income of marginal and small farmers will remain a big challenge in coming days. As most of Aman seedbeds have severally affected, not all farmers would be able to manage to resume their Aman rice production in July. Therefore, employment opportunity for agricultural day labourer would decline and their food security is likely to be worst affected The untimely losses to agricultural production, damages to fisheries & livestock sector and unforeseen costs of house repair will mean that the majority of affected will not have sufficient financial capital, seeds, tools and other inputs required for the next cropping season beginning July. Reduced access to fodder and injury has left the animals distressed and in a weakened condition, increasing susceptible to disease and infection and reducing levels of meat, egg and milk production.

12 Key upcoming events (rainy season, elections, religious holidays etc.) Rainy season will continue upto next September 12 and Ramadan with Eid-Ul Fitre festival is coming ahead in next August. After 02 months of Eid-ul-Fitre, Eid-ul_azha will be coming. In addition, In coming October, Hindu festival (Durga Puja) is also coming. Christmas will be on December 25, The situation might compel the poor people to borrow from others. Lessons learnt 1. Simple HH preparedness like keeping portable stove, some savings, could improve the capacity of the affected to deal with the post disaster situation and reduce the sufferings. 2 Improved level of awareness of WASH is extremely important to ensure the safe drinking water, disaster resilient sanitation options and necessary hygiene promotion preventive measures. 3 Diversity of the livelihood options could contribute more in the coping mechanism for the poor people to ensure food security immediately after any hazard. 4. In build coordination mechanism at local level is extremely helpful to handle the post emergency situation like assessment, response etc. 5. Partner s capacity building around emergency management remains a big challenge. Therefore, emergency capacity building for local partners is must. 6. Pre-crisis data needs to be readily available and updated regularly. 7. Local market facilities and capacity over the period has improved tremendously and they are fully functional even in present crisis period. It has created the opportunity to undertake cash based program. It is also learnt that sustainable road/river network contribute a lot for functioning the market