Sudan: Flood Response Update No. 02 (25 September 2022)
SITUATION OVERVIEW
Heavy rains and flash floods have affected about 349,000 people across the country as of 22 September, according to the Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), humanitarian organizations on the ground, and local authorities. The rains and floods have destroyed at least 24,800 homes and damaged another 48,200 in 16 out of the 18 states. The National Council for Civil Defence reported in the media that 146 people have died, and more than 122 people were injured since the beginning of the rainy season in June.
The most affected states are South Darfur, Gedaref, Central Darfur, White Nile, and Kassala, followed by Northern, West Darfur, River Nile, North Kordofan, Aj Jazirah, West Kordofan, South Kordofan, Sennar, and East Darfur. Khartoum and North Darfur have been less impacted.
Most of the clusters reported that due to poor road access to hard-to-reach areas affected by floods and poor infrastructure in some of the areas hamper the timely delivery of nutrition services.
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
Education
Response:
Floods have impacted over 397 schools (272 damaged and 125 destroyed), affecting the education of about 140,000 children. An additional 241 schools have reportedly been affected and are currently being verified.
Partners are mobilizing supplies, including more than 75 tents that will be used as temporary learning spaces, as well as teaching, learning, and recreational materials that will support more than 13,000 children.
Damage to school infrastructures will significantly push back the start date of the 2022-2023 academic year. Nine states have already rescheduled the start of the academic year from 18 September to mid-October or later.
In the medium and long-term, the rehabilitation of classrooms will be required to repair the flood damage and ensure children are able to access safe school environments conducive to learning.
Gaps and Constraints:
Urgent funds are needed to meet these needs of more than 125,000 school children who will require assistance to return to school at the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.
Response:
3,000 people affected by floods in Aj Jazirah and River Nile states were reached with food assistance through the United Peace Organization (UPO) and the Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) cluster.
The FSL cluster, through Qatar Charity, distributed 1,600 food baskets in 11 villages in Barber locality in River Nile State. Assistance was also provided to about 1,000 households in seven villages in Al Managil locality in Aj Jazirah State.
In West Darfur, FSL partners plan to reach 1,000 people with cash assistance.
Qatar Charity plans to distribute 8,400 food baskets in flood-affected areas in Gedaref, Aj Jazirah and Kassala states.
Gaps & Constraints:
Limited logistic services have impacted food distribution.
Some of the areas affected are still recovering from the impact of floods and dry spells in 2021 and 2022.
Health
Response:
UNICEF prepositioned health and nutrition supplies in July 2022, ahead of the rainy season. The supplies included medicines, medical supplies and kits enough to cover the needs of 4.2 million people for 3 months as well as 36,229 long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) to support 116,595 women and children in priority states.
Health cluster partners supported 10 mobile clinics and all health facilities in the affected localities in Darfur and Kordofan, Blue Nile, Kassala, and Gedaref states ensuring access to expanded programme of immunization (EPI), Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), Antenatal Care (ANC) and Post Natal Care (PNC), and birth support.
Ahead of the rainy season, UNFPA prepositioned life-saving sexual reproductive health supplies across the country, enough to cover the needs of 101,700 people. The supplies include delivery kits, emergency obstetric care, other sexual reproductive health supplies, and commodities of case management, family planning, etc.
UNFPA reached over 55,5000 people with medical consultations and over 30,700 people with sexual reproductive health consultations in South Darfur, North Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile, West Darfur, and Kassala states.
WHO provided 500 rapid detection cholera kits, 300 oral rehydration cartons, and medicines enough to cover the needs of 5,000 people.
WHO received 334 Rapid Response Kits (RRKs) and 75 inter-agency health kits, enough to cover the health needs of 1 million people for three months.
Gaps & Constraints:
There is limited laboratory diagnostic capacity for epidemic detection in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. Laboratory capacity to culture cholera specimens is only available at the national level.
There is a critical shortage of Acute Water Diarrhoea (AWD) periphery kits, AWD community care kits and AWD community kit drugs.
There is limited water quality monitoring and testing.
There is a lack of cholera vaccine supply.
Lack of mobile clinic coverage for the newly displaced people.
Nutrition
Response:
Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) mass screening targeting children under five years and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and active case-finding have been carried out.
Partners have established and supported mother support groups and breastfeeding corners for Infant and Young Children Feeding (IYCF) counselling to strengthen preventative nutrition services.
Nutrition partners continued supporting severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) treatment in outpatient therapeutic programmes (OTP) and targeted supplementary feeding programme (TSFP) sites. Partners are also supporting referrals for SAM with medical complications.
Established temporary integrated primary healthcare (PHC) and mobile teams in hard-to-reach areas.
IYCF counselling for PLWs and caretakers have been carried out in all flood-affected states.
Gaps & Constraints:
Limited referral support for SAM cases of children under five years with medical complications.
Limited capacity and resources for the treatment of acute malnutrition—using the community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) approach—and preventive nutrition interventions, including emergency blanket supplementary feeding program (e-BSFP) for children under five years and PLWs.
Protection
Response:
In Darfur states, the cluster shared protection mainstreaming guidance with partners and other clusters to support advocacy for the prioritization of vulnerable groups and in response.
The Protection cluster also participated in inter-agency needs assessment activities in affected areas.
In Blue Nile State, protection partners supported flood mitigation measures by providing tools for cleaning drainages.
Gaps & Constraints:
In East Darfur, no available food stock was reported; this may increase protection risks for vulnerable families, particularly women and girls as they may travel long distances to get food.
Child Protection
Response:
Several protection partners are providing psychosocial and material support for children and adolescents affected by floods.
Vital registration activities—including birth registration—are ongoing in states affected by floods.
Psychosocial support to affected children and families is being carried out.
Rapid needs assessments were conducted by child protection partners in flood-affected localities in Central Darfur, West Darfur, South Darfur, and White Nile states.
Child Protection Key messages were developed and disseminated in all states to create awareness of children’s protection during the flood crisis.
270 blankets and 103 recreation kits have been distributed in South and East Darfur targeting flood-affected families and children.
Child protection key standard messages were adapted to the state level for children's protection during the floods.
There are plans to establish mobile child-friendly spaces to address psychosocial issues for children affected by floods.
Gap & Constraints:
Partner capacity to effectively respond to child protection needs is limited.
Gender-based Violence (GBV)
Response:
5,650 dignity kits were distributed in Blue Nile, Kassala, South Darfur, and South Kordofan states.
115 social workers and counsellors were deployed to provide quality psychosocial services and referral services in Central, South, North, and West Darfur, South Kordofan, Gedaref, Kassala, Blue Nile and White Nile states.
Lifesaving health services such as clinical management of rape (CMR) were provided in Central, South, North, and West Darfur, Gedaref, Kassala, South Kordofan, Blue Nile and White Nile states.
43 social workers and counsellors have been trained on lifesaving gender-based violence (GBV) services.
7,071 vulnerable people in the Blue Nile, White Nile, South Darfur, South Kordofan, and Kassala states were reached with awareness sessions on the life-threatening risks of GBV and available services.
The GBV sub-cluster working group is operational in Central, South, North, and West Darfur, Gedaref, Kassala, South Kordofan, Blue Nile and White Nile states.
Gap & Constraints:
An additional 43,213 dignity kits are needed to reach vulnerable women and girls of reproductive age.
There is a critical shortage of Rape Treatment Kits (RTKs)
Referral pathways have been interrupted due to limited access to affected localities in Central, South, North, West, Gedaref, Kassala, South Kordofan, Blue Nile, and White Nile states.
There are limited safe spaces for women and girls that can provide GBV services.
There are limited or no GBV activities in some of the flood-affected states, such as Northern, Aj Jazirah, River Nile, Sennar, and West Kordofan due to the funding gap and lack of partners.
Shelter & Non-Food Items (S/NFIs)
Response:
About 42,000 people (8,322 families) affected by floods received non-food item (NFI) assistance across the Darfurs and Kordofans and in Khartoum, Kassala, Gedaref, White Nile and Aj Jazirah states.
At least 5,300 more kits have been prepositioned, with more kits from both IOM and UNHCR in the pipeline.
About 600 tents have been distributed by Qatar Charity with 1,000 more in the pipeline. Bilateral support from other middle eastern countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia include similar support.
Gaps & Constraints:
An additional 30,000 NFI kits are needed to support people affected by floods.
There is a critical shortage of emergency shelter kits to support 16,800 houses destroyed by heavy rains and flooding.
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
Response:
In Gedaref State, UNICEF, IOM, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) distributed water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) NFIs for 6,000 people affected by floods. This includes 12,000 bars of soap, 585 hygiene kits, 25,000 strips of chlorine tablets, and 1,170 jerry cans.
WHO trained 24 environmental health officers to support water quality monitoring in all localities in Gedaref State.
UNICEF and the State Ministry of Health (SMoH) pre-positioned WASH supplies (soap, plastic sheets, latrine slabs, jerry cans and hygiene kits) in three critical localities Galabat Ash-Shargiah, Al Mafaza and Basundah in Gedaref state to support 5,000 people.
In Central Darfur State, 3,000 people benefitted from the construction of 500 emergency household latrines and an additional 1,200 people will be reached with WASH NFI assistance. Also, 40 community members were trained on hygiene promotion to support the hygiene awareness sessions at community level.
In White Nile State, IOM reached 2,500 people with hygiene kits and WASH NFI distributions.
NRC supported 16,535 refugees in Dabat Bosin Camp (Aj Jabalain locality, White Nile) through the rehabilitation of water points, soap distribution, hygiene promotion, and construction/management of latrines.
In White Nile’s Tendalti and As Salam localities, WHO and ADRA reached 35,000 people with vector control activities and UNICEF distributed chlorine tablets to 12,450 people and 7,200 people received soap.
In South Darfur State, more than 640,000 chlorine tablets were distributed and around 500 collapsed latrines were disinfected, treated and replaced.
In Barbar locality in River Nile State, UNICEF and Save the Children (SC) provided WASH supplies, water quality treatment tablets, and communal water treatment supplies.
In West Darfur State, about 2,520 people were reached with basic sanitation services and hygiene promotion. WASH partners distributed soap and hygiene kits and rehabilitated 12 hand pumps, one water yard, and 30 emergency latrines in Ag Geneina gathering sites. In Kereneik locality, 8,500 families received WASH NFIs.
In West Kordofan State, 87 community latrines were rehabilitated, 36,000 hygiene items were distributed, and 5,000 people received water treatment tablets.
In East Darfur State, partners prepositioned emergency stocks for 428 households. Hygiene awareness-raising sessions—including risk communication and behavioural change communication interventions—were provided.
There has been a scale-up of water quantity monitoring and surveillance activities supporting 32,000 people in camps hosting IDPs and refugees in El Neem, Elfardous (South Darfur), Abu Matariq, Adela, and Abu Jabra (East Darfur).
Gaps & Constraints:
Disease outbreaks pose a high risk particularly in high concentration areas.
Water and sanitation are priority needs, especially for those who have been displaced. However, there is limited capacity and resources for response.
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