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Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: Landslide and Floods Recovery Bulletin #6, 17 October 2017

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This weekly update is produced by UNDP in collaboration with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Sierra Leone, liaising with the Office of National Security and development partners.

Situation overview

Following the landslides and floods that hit Freetown and surrounding areas on 14 August 2017, the UN system in Sierra Leone continues to support national recovery.

In addition to addressing the urgent needs of those most affected, medium and long term assessments and Action Plans are being put in place under national leadership to ensure risk mitigation and protect the people of Sierra Leone from future tragedy.

For the purpose of information and coordination, relief and recovery efforts are detailed here.
Recovery efforts

HEALTH

WHO

  • WHO supported the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in planning health workers' sensitization on surveillance of and response to cases of cholera, diarrhea with severe dehydration in children under 5, measles, dysentery, typhoid and malaria in eight selected hospitals in Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural districts. Planning included the identification of the eight hospitals, identification of the health workers, and scheduling of sensitization visits. This sensitization aims to increase the index of suspicion of the selected priority diseases or conditions, and the capacity to respond to cases among health workers.

ChildFund

  • Provided a truck full of assorted medical items to the Office of National Security and Ministry of Health on 12October, to support response efforts in the country and promote health and wellbeing of IDPs.

  • Distributed 505 blankets and 205 bed nets to IDPs at Old Skool, Juba, Kaningo camps and St Georges Foundation, respectively, to ensure they are safe from Malaria.

WASH

CONCERN

  • A door-to-door campaign is being carried out by 30 Disaster Management Volunteers in Kamayama and Kaningo. 2,487 households (12,810 people) have been reached so far. Aquatabs were distributed to 1,234HHs. The activity will continue until the 19 October.

ChildFund

  • ChildFund through Hope International (WHI) and Living Water Sierra Leone (LWSL) has distributed P&G Water Purifiers to Juba old Skool, Kaningo and surrounding communities.

  • Provided WASH materials to provide adequate water and sanitation in the two Camps: four Large Trash cans, two five thousand litters Milla Tanks and 19 Veronica Buckets to ensure adequate water supply and for the promotion of hygiene and Sanitation in Old Skool and Juba emergency Response centres.

  • Supporting 12 Hygienists at Old Skool for 45 days to ensure the Camp continue to be clean and tidy at all times.

CARE International

  • Distributed a total of 1,530 Aquatabs (tablets) to 132 households in the affected communities of Kaningo (54 households) and Pentagon (78 households). The household beneficiaries received between 10-40 Aquatabs, or an average of 12 Aquatabs per household (6 – 12 October).

  • Distributed a total of 230,000 liters of clean water to twelve 10,000-litre capacity water tanks located in Kamayama (3 tanks), Kaningo (6 tanks), Pentagon (2 tanks) and Juba Barracks (1 tank).
    CARE also monitored the water’s Free Chlorine Residual (6 – 12 October).

FOOD & NUTRITION

FAO

  • The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has donated 1000 cooking stoves, commonly known as “Wonder Stove” to the Office of National Security (ONS). This donation was to reduce the burden of cooking utensils on affected households that are being repatriated to their communities as most of their property were washed away by the floods. The use of the stoves, as they are smaller in sizes, is expected to reduce the amount of charcoal used for cooking and, thereby, help decrease deforestation.

  • Also, as a show of solidarity, the FAO Staff Association donated food items and used clothes to the affected families.

SHELTER

WFP

  • To date, 1,822 affected households have been registered and verified, while approximately 300 households claimed to have been left out of the initial registration and biometric verification.
    There are currently 132 households residing in camps, including 500 individuals in Old Skool and 486 in Juba. (The ministry of social welfare, as lead of the registration pillar, was supported by WFP and other UN agencies and NGOs to verify beneficiaries, and also NEC conducted a biometric verification following the first verification exercise).