SPECIAL OPERATION SO

Transcription

1 WFP Mozambique SPECIAL OPERATION SO Country: Type of project: Title: Mozambique Special Operation Provision of Logistics and Emergency Telecommunications Support to Humanitarian Emergency Operations in Flood Affected Areas of Mozambique Total cost (US$): 2,387,819 Duration: 9 February to 8 August, 2015 (6 Months) Executive Summary Heavy rainfall in Mozambique and neighboring countries, beginning in December and continuing through January, has caused significant flooding in northern and central parts of Mozambique, particularly in Zambézia, Nampula, Niassa, and Cabo Delgado provinces. Many rivers in these areas have overflowed; of particular concern is the Licungo River which, as of 20 January, had reached its highest levels since Consequently 144,330 people (32,285 families) have been affected by these floods. In Zambézia province alone 119,564 people (24,278 families) have been affected, of which 50,481 people (11,662 families) are currently being hosted in 49 accommodation centers, located in seven districts out of the total 22 districts in the province. On 12 January 2015, the Mozambique Cabinet Council of Ministers declared an Institutional Red Alert for the central and northern parts of the country, activating response mechanisms at the highest level. Two satellites of the National Emergency Operation Center (CENOE) were established in Quelimane (Zambézia) and Nampula City (Nampula) to coordinate the response, alongside with the National Civil Protection Unit (UNAPROC) and partners. Floods have reached historically high levels (in some areas up to 12 metres) damaging infrastructure and isolating entire communities, thereby making needs assessments only possible by air in some locations. Transport infrastructure (roads, bridges, railways), electrical infrastructure, services (water supply) and both public and private infrastructure (schools, houses, etc.) have all been affected. The main national road (N1) linking the Southern and Northern regions of the country has been cut at five points in Zambézia province, mainly in Mocuba districts. In the North, damage to power-plants has left the second largest city, Nampula, without electricity since 13 January, while other parts of the Northern region remain extensively flooded. Funds were allocated from the state budget to be used for the initial response, including rescue operations by the National Civil Protection Unity (UNAPROC) in all affected areas, the purchase and delivery of shelter materials, as well as supplies of food and water to assist the affected populations. The Government of Mozambique, through the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC), presented a request to the international community for additional support to cover identified gaps and meet the immediate needs. This Special Operation aims at supporting the INGC-led response by providing additional logistics and emergency telecommunications capacity to organizations responding to the flooding in Zambézia province. The response plan includes provisions for common transport services (including air transport via helicopter), management of logistics assets, collection and dissemination of logistics information, as well as coordination and provision of emergency telecommunications support. All activities are carried out under WFP s mandate, as the IASC-identified MOZ SO Page 1

2 Lead Agency for the Logistics and Telecommunications Clusters, to support coordination in these sectors through existing response mechanisms where possible and when requested. Project Background 1. Mozambique remains a country extremely prone to recurrent natural disasters, particularly floods and tropical storms. Mozambique is a downstream country through which nine major international river systems flow towards the Indian Ocean, draining vast areas of South-Eastern Africa, hence requiring cross-border coordination for early warning alerts. In 2015, persistent and heavy seasonal rains in the central and northern regions of Mozambique, as well as neighbouring countries of Malawi and Zambia, resulted in high water levels in the rivers of Licungo and Zambezi (Zambézia province), which caused severe flooding in the lower Licungo Basin. However, there is a continued risk of flooding until the end of the rainy season in April, particularly in the Zambezi area which is vulnerable to heavy rains in the northern provinces of Zambézia and Nampula. An estimated 144,330 people (32,285 families) people have been displaced to date, with the number expected to rise as the rainy season continues. 2. In response to a request for assistance from the Government of Mozambique s Disaster Management Agency (Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades -INGC); seven national clusters formulated respective response plans for immediate life-saving and early recovery needs. The success of the response depends on efficient logistics services that can help ensure an uninterrupted supply of relief items to the affected areas, as well as the provision of vital ICT infrastructure and services. 3. The established national Logistics and Emergency Telecommunications Clusters have been engaged by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) to provide common logistics and emergency telecommunications support and services to the government and the humanitarian community for the emergency and early recovery phases of the response. These services will be provided in parallel to the capacity development undertaken by the current PRRO , which aims at strengthening the capacity of the INGC to coordinate and manage natural disasters with regards to emergency preparedness and response. 4. The calculation for transport and storage requirements was calculated with overall requirements of approximately 4,250 mtn/14,000 cbm, based on a portion of the total cluster members needs. Project Justification 5. The severe flooding in the lower Licungo River has affected communities, public and private infrastructure, telecommunications, road networks, and energy supply, particularly in Zambézia and Nampula provinces. The current most critical situation is in the Licungo River basin in Zambézia province, where exceptionally high water levels have been recorded. 6. The floods have isolated entire districts and communities, cut access routes, destroyed roads and bridges, and caused major telecommunication breakdowns. It is reported that 70 percent of usable lands in Zambézia province are now unreachable by land. Hence, air-bridge services have been crucial to the rescue and relief operations and will continue to be a major operational leverage tool for the humanitarian teams, including the WFP/Logistics Cluster, throughout the emergency process until waters have receded. 1 The logistics needs for air, water, road, and warehousing are based on the assumption that the Cluster will be responsible for transport of 100 percent of all items prioritized for air, 40 percent of all items required to be transported by river, 75 percent of all items transported by road, and 35 percent of all items needing warehousing. MOZ SO Page 2

3 7. The above described situation calls for an immediate augmentation of logistics capacities in order to ensure timely delivery of life-saving emergency aid to the affected populations. Effective communication is equally vital; however, the VHF signal is currently covering only a few locations and it is often unstable due to electricity related problems. Therefore, an expansion of the current coverage of the VHF network is required, as well as provision of backup power supply. 8. In line with the mandate of WFP as the Lead Agency for the Logistics and Emergency Telecommunications Clusters ( To support established coordination mechanisms in these sectors, and provide common services in these sectors to fill gaps in the response ) and the HCT response plans developed at country level, WFP will provide common logistics and emergency telecommunications services, ensure coordination in both sectors, and will collect and disseminate essential information to support an effective overall response. Project Objectives 9. The objectives of Special Operation are: To enhance the coordination, predictability, timeliness and efficiency of the logistics response under the cluster approach; Support and augment the logistic capacity of the government and the humanitarian community to respond and operate in the affected areas; To ensure a timely and continuous delivery of emergency relief items to the affected populations (an estimate of 14,000m3 or 4,250 mtn of relief items); Provide common emergency telecommunications infrastructure and services to the humanitarian community in Zambézia province, covering data connectivity and security communications, which are essential to support staff safety and effective operations. Project Implementation 10. This Special Operation will allow WFP to provide the following Common Logistics Services coordinated under the cluster approach: Land Transport: To reach the affected population in a timely manner, the logistics structures will be augmented to accommodate the increased needs. Road transport will be provided from central storage hubs to intermediate storage sites. Of the total amount of required humanitarian cargo, it is estimated that some 75 percent will originate from Beira, with the rest dispatched from Maputo. Where possible, transport from intermediate storage locations to the final delivery points will be provided using small all-terrain trucks, contracted locally and allocated to a continuous delivery of small shipments. River Transport: Where beneficiaries are not accessible by road, small motorized boats will be used for transport. As such, transport of cargo by boat and/or barge from Beira, Caia, Rio Chire, Malingapance, Marromeu, Sena, Chinde, Tchola and Tsoni to cover the provinces of Sofala, Tete and Zambézia has been secured and readily available for deployment. Airlift: As some areas are not accessible by land or river, the delivery of urgent humanitarian supplies to populations in isolated areas will require the mobilization of one helicopter until water recedes and communities can be accessed by land. The aircraft will be primarily allocated for the transportation of food and non-food supplies to confined communities, but may also serve as an instrument for further rapid assessments as deemed necessary and agreed between the local government and the logistics cluster. MOZ SO Page 3

4 Warehousing: Where possible, permanent storage structures will be rented and temporary storage units made available as required, in order to ensure sufficient storage capacity. 11. Information Management: The Logistics Cluster cell in Maputo will be responsible for the overall collection and dissemination of logistics information through the coordination of meetings, release of situation reports, maps and other IM products. 12. Emergency Telecommunications: WFP, as the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) lead agency, will support the humanitarian community with: Overall coordination of ICT activities in Zambézia province and potentially other areas affected by the emergency; Provision of secure communication means to the humanitarian community deployed to the affected areas through the expansion of the VHF network coverage in Quelimane, Mocuba, Mangaja da Costa districts in the Zambézia province, with set-up of additional VHF Repeater and back-up power. The final location of the Repeater will be determined jointly with government following an assessment mission. The equipment installed will be set-up in a way that it also addresses potential future requirements in the Licungo basin; Provision of data connectivity and electrical backup means to the humanitarian community responding in the affected areas; Deployment of basic IT equipment such as printers and scanners. Staffing & Logistics Coordination 13. The logistics staffing structures in Maputo and in key field locations, mainly Quelimane, Mocuba and Caia, will be augmented to ensure adequate coordination of the logistics response. 14. The current operational activity will inevitably require significant staffing scale-up and expansion in line with the corresponding operational demands and requirements, to accommodate the labor intensive nature of emergency operations with multifunctional requirements. As mentioned above, Maputo will house the logistics central coordination body while Quelimane, Mocuba and Caia will remain as operational sites with dedicated teams who will secure the entire field operation and ensure upstream liaison. 15. Regular logistics coordination meetings will be held with participation from humanitarian organizations and government counterparts. The objective is to optimize the use of resources available at all levels, identify and fill gaps, and avoid duplications of efforts. 16. The Logistics Cluster will work closely with the INGC to identify gaps and holdups in the logistics response, as well as secure and manage the necessary logistics assets used by the humanitarian community. Project Management 17. The Head of Logistics in Mozambique will be the project manager for this SO. The Country Director will be the fund manager and the Head of Finance will be the allotment manager. The ETC portion of the project will be managed by the CO ICT officer. Two sub-funded programmes will be created: Logistics augmentation and coordination (to be managed by the Head of Logistics); Emergency telecommunications augmentation, inclusive of security (to be managed by the CO ICT officer). Project Cost and Benefits MOZ SO Page 4

5 18. This Special Operation has a duration of six months at a total cost of US$ 2,387,819 which will cover activities to be carried out under the Logistics Cluster and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster. MOZ SO Page 5

6 Monitoring & Evaluation Risk Analysis and Contingency planning 19. Institutional Risks: These include lack of adequate resources to meet the demands of stakeholders and consequent damage to WFP s reputation. If necessary, WFP will adjust its operational capacity to match the level of resources received. 20. Programmatic Risks: Considering the possibility of a continued scenario of flooding in new areas, the cluster services here described may need to be equally expanded to match the newly affected geographical areas. As the logistics cluster infrastructure is exposed to potential damage by the elements (flooding/heavy rain), the following mitigation steps will be observed in order to avoid any damage or loss to the cluster properties: o Continued monitoring and scale-up or down, depending on the needs expressed by the government; o Budget revisions as necessary. RECOMMENDATION This Special Operation covering the period from 09 February 2015 to 08 August 2015 at a total cost to WFP of US$ 2,387,819 is recommended for approval by the Executive Director. APPROVAL Ertharin Cousin Executive Director MOZ SO Page 6

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