Central African Republic

Situation Report
Background
Two days after the torrential rains of 22 July, Rodrigue Yetendji has still not fully realized what damage was done to his family's three houses and their other possessions. ©OCHA/Maxime Nama, 6th Arrondissement, Bangui, CAR, 2022.
Two days after the torrential rains of 22 July, Rodrigue Yetendji has still not fully realized what damage was done to his family's three houses and their other possessions. ©OCHA/Maxime Nama, 6th Arrondissement, Bangui, CAR, 2022.

Floods continue to affect the Central African Republic

Since June 2022, floods in the Central African Republic (CAR) have affected some 85,300 people, destroyed more than 2,600 houses and 18,500 hectares of crops, damaged numerous other infrastructures and displaced more than 6,000 people. At the end of September, six schools were still occupied by flood victims, jeopardizing the start of the 2022-2023 school year for 10,000 children.

More than 176 town and villages have been affected by floods in 12 of the country's 17 prefectures. The northern Vakaga Prefecture has been the most affected with 24,000 flood victims, followed by the capital Bangui (20,400 victims) and the Ouham Prefecture (13,000 victims). These latest floods come at a time when humanitarian needs have increased exponentially across the country, with 63 per cent of the Central African population in need of assistance and protection – 3.1 million people.

The last major floods occurred in 2019. Some 100,000 people lost their homes and access to clean water, and most of them were forced to move to temporary sites or host families. At that time, 3 per cent of all displaced people in the Central African Republic were displaced by natural disasters.

In response to the current situation, the Government's strategy is to provide humanitarian assistance in the affected neighborhoods, coupled with disaster mitigation and recovery measures.

Disaster victims need assistance

Since July, the Ministry of Humanitarian Action, Solidarity and National Reconciliation has brought together specialized state actors, representatives of the affected districts, humanitarian and development actors, and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) to set up a coordinated response structure, co-facilitated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Complementing the Government's efforts, the humanitarian community has provided a multi-sectoral emergency response to more than 43,000* people. 11,000 families received shelter kits to rebuild their houses and 10,000 families received essential household items, such as buckets, blankets, sleeping mats and kitchen utensils. Tens of thousands of water purification tablets were distributed to prevent waterborne diseases, boreholes and wells were rehabilitated, mobile clinics ensured people’s access to healthcare and food, cash and food vouchers, as well as school supplies were distributed.

The largest number of people were assisted in Ouham Prefecture with 17,300 people, followed by 17,000 people in the capital Bangui. But many affected people have yet to receive assistance – resources are scarce and physical access to some of the affected regions is very difficult during the rainy season, for example in the Vakaga Prefecture, where floods have affected 24,000 people, as well as in Haute-Kotto. According to weather forecasts, there is a risk of further flooding before the end of the rainy season, which lasts from April to October.

Humanitarian actors continue consolidating their emergency stocks to fill any gaps not covered by the Government assistance, in a context where resources to meet the humanitarian needs are heavily stretched. At the end of September, only 74 per cent of the USD 461 million needed in the framework of the Humanitarian Response Plan for CAR have been mobilized.

Mitigation measures

The floods come after the adoption of the new National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management on 13 July. It is built around four strategic axes, including risk identification and analysis, disaster risk governance, strengthening disaster risk management mechanisms, and disaster emergency management. However, the operationalization of the implementing bodies awaits the signing of a presidential decree.

In September 2020, the NGO REACH published a study of flood susceptibility in populated areas. The study developed a flood risk score, aimed at improving emergency preparedness initiatives, and supporting planning and decision-making. Funded by the Humanitarian Fund for the Central African Republic (CAR), the data from this study was cross-referenced with data from multi-sectoral needs assessments conducted in 2019. The final result was made available to the authorities, revealing, for example, higher impact risks of flooding in Ouham and Kémo Prefectures (more than 203,000 people at high risk), while Nana-Mambéré and Ouham-Pendé had low risk scores.

The study also showed that most Central African settlements are located next to rivers and their basins, around which people's livelihoods are developed. The banks of these rivers tend to overflow with increasing amounts of rainfall collected in the basins. Thus, if infrastructure adaptation, as well as contingency planning are not developed, downstream interventions will not be sufficient for populations already battered by more than a decade of conflict and several other shocks.

For better preparedness

To ensure optimal preparation for flooding, a Technical Operational Committee was set up in 2020 under the aegis of the Ministry of Humanitarian Action, Solidarity and National Reconciliation, with the participation of OCHA, the DGPC, the Central African Red Cross, MINUSCA and the Bangui City Council. This new structure has coordinated field visits in Bangui to identify areas at risk and priority preparedness measures.

The extensive impacts of the floods highlighted coordination problems in terms of standardizing the data provided by various actors, the lack of people trained in post-disaster assessments and the lack of clear guidelines for assessments. The lack of a common data storage/management platform, including mapping, has also been a weakness.

In response, OCHA in collaboration with the NGO REACH and the IFRC, has been building the capacity of 45 volunteers from the National Red Cross and the DGPC on post-disaster assessment since 2021. These volunteers are currently part of the teams assessing the situation.

* Other vulnerable people than those directly affected by the floods benefited from humanitarian assistance, for example people who benefited from the rehabilitation of wells in their neighborhoods.

Infographics: Overview of humanitarian situation after floods (in French)

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