CAFOD Crisis Watch Report

CAFOD Crisis Watch Report Spring edition 2013 A quarterly update on disasters and emergencies around the world. Includes: Syria, Mali and Niger, South Sudan, Mozambique, Haiti, Horn and East Africa, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo. CAFOD Crisis Watch Report: Spring Edition Syria Fighting continues across various parts of Syria, including in and around Damascus. Civilians have been cut off from water, electricity and medical supplies, especially in rebel-held areas targeted by air strikes and ballistic missiles. The United Nations estimates that 4.2 million people have been forced from their homes within Syria, while – countrywide – 6.8 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. CAFOD is one of a handful of UK aid agencies able to operate inside Syria: the extensive community networks of the Church, even as a minority faith, mean that it is well placed to provide aid in some of the worst hit and most inaccessible areas of the country. For more than a year, CAFOD has I cannot describe my worked with local Church partners to provide food, shelter and medical “ supplies to vulnerable people, regardless of their religious or political ties. daily life. It is empty. Many of CAFOD’s partners are risking their lives to deliver aid across I have nothing. I have no the battle-lines. food to cook with. I have The refugee crisis no friends. My husband The influx of Syrian refugees into neighbouring countries continues at is trapped in Syria. an alarming rate: an estimated 8,000 people are streaming across the borders every day. More than 1.4 million refugees have been registered or Apart from my child, are awaiting registration, but, with an unknown number of people unable I am completely alone” or unwilling to register, the actual number of Syrians in neighbouring countries is believed to be far higher. Rosan, a refugee in Jordan The people of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have shown great compassion in welcoming the new arrivals, but the sheer number of refugees is putting an enormous strain on already overstretched resources. 75 per cent of registered refugees are living in cities, towns and villages rather than in camps. With rents already higher than in Syria due to the pressure of numbers, small apartments are often shared by a number of families. In many cases, it takes several weeks for newly arrived refugees to be registered by the UN, during which time they receive no official support. Organisations like the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre, which CAFOD has been supporting for many years, plug the gap by providing food, clothing and shelter, as well as further support after registration for vulnerable families. CAFOD is supporting Caritas Lebanon, Caritas Jordan, Caritas Turkey and Catholic Relief Services, as well as Church organisations inside Syria. Our Syria Crisis appeal has raised more than £1.3 million. Find out more at cafod.org.uk/syria 2 CAFOD Crisis Watch Report: Spring Edition Mali and Niger Despite a relatively good harvest in most areas in October-November last year, many families across the Sahel region of west Africa have been unable to replenish their food stocks after last year’s food crisis. The United Nations estimates that 10.3 million people could be affected by food shortages this year. CAFOD is working with CADEV-Niger and other Aminata and her family are among more partners across the region to help families build up long-term resilience than 450,000 people who have been to food crises, for example by setting up village granaries and small-scale forced to flee their homes. irrigation projects and by improving water supplies. CAFOD also continues to support nutrition centres across Niger. The food crisis across the region has been exacerbated by the war in the north of Mali. Since April 2012, more than 450,000 people have fled One major question is the conflict. Although some have returned to their homes, the security “ situation outside towns in northern Mali is unstable, and many families troubling everyone’s – particularly among Tuareg and Arab communities – do not consider it minds: how to avoid safe to return. a post-election crisis” CAFOD’s local Church partners report that many communities in northern Mali are split and dysfunctional: there are tensions both between different Théodore Togo, Secretary General, ethnic groups and between local people and those who have been Caritas Mali displaced. The economic outlook is precarious. Prior to the conflict, the economy of northern Mali relied on long-standing commercial routes, networks and alliances between different ethnic groups, pastoralists farmers and business people. Today, many of these systems have been destroyed. Many of our local partners are deeply pessimistic about the elections scheduled for July. There is a strong political push for people to return to their homes before the elections, but the security conditions to ensure safe return are not yet in place. Our partners are also concerned that, with large numbers of people living in temporary locations, it will be difficult to ensure adequate voter registration. Furthermore, opposition groups lack the funds and infrastructure for effective campaigning. As a result, election results might not be accepted - a situation which could create further divisions. CAFOD’s partners in Mali are embarking on the complex task of promoting community reconciliation and restoring trust at the local level. CAFOD is also working with partners in both Mali and Niger to support thousands of people who have been forced from their homes, providing food, shelter kits, healthcare, medical support and essential household supplies like jerrycans, blankets, pots and pans. Find out more at cafod.org.uk/niger 3 CAFOD Crisis Watch Report: Spring Edition Hidden emergencies South Sudan More than 115,000 refugees from Sudan are living in camps in Maban County, Upper Nile State. When many of the refugees arrived last year, conditions in the camps were very poor, largely because of the extreme difficulty aid agencies faced in supplying them during the rainy season. Today, the situation has stabilised, although more than 6,000 suspected cases of Hepatitis E have been reported this year. CAFOD has launched a major project with the Kosti Catholic Development Office, a long-term local partner, to help more than 10,000 people in Maban establish home gardens or start small businesses (for example, training people to be blacksmiths). Without this support, they would not only have to rely on handouts, but also have little hope of their situation The problems started “ changing in the foreseeable future. CAFOD is also providing latrines, with the soldiers bombing soap, mosquito nets and hygiene promotion training to prevent the our village. I was so spread of disease. Unlike most other agencies, CAFOD is working with local communities – many of whom live on just one meal a day – as well frightened I wasn’t able as the refugees. to run. Then we spent two Find out more at cafod.org.uk/southsudan months travelling here. We didn’t have anything to eat. We survived on Hidden emergencies leaves and bark from trees. People died because there Mozambique was no water” Houmada, Yusuf Batil camp, Maban The little-reported floods in Mozambique earlier this year forced at least County, South Sudan 180,000 people from their homes and affected more than 470,000 in total. Low-lying areas around the town of Chokwe in Gaza Province in the south of the country were particularly badly affected. Thousands of homes and vast swathes of farmland were damaged. Roads, electricity and drainage systems were destroyed. The region had previously been hit by severe floods in 2000 and 2001, as well as in 2007/2008. CAFOD initially worked with local partners to respond to the floods in Gaza, providing emergency food, shelter and relief supplies. As families move back to their homes, or to new land allocated by the government away from the flood plain, CAFOD is supplying people with kits to clean up their homes and to clear their land, as well as hygiene kits to prevent the spread of disease, and seeds to replace those that were lost in the floods. Find out more at cafod.org.uk/mozambique 4 CAFOD Crisis Watch Report: Spring Edition Crisis update Haiti More than three years since the 2010 earthquake, at least 350,000 people remain homeless, while the UN estimates that 2.1 million people face food shortages. CAFOD’s three-year earthquake response programme has focussed on four main areas: water and sanitation, the construction of permanent housing, disaster risk reduction and helping local organisations be better equipped to deal with emergencies. The programme has provided latrines and safe water supplies for over 50,000 people as they moved back to permanent shelters, as well as disaster-resistant new homes for approximately 1,000 people. CAFOD I am so happy with the partners have trained community members to be block-makers, masons “ and foremen, which should have a long-term economic impact, bolstering new house, so excited. the local private sector. I keep thanking God Other recent projects include developing emergency preparedness plans because it is like a miracle” and water and sanitation programmes in schools; supporting Caritas Casimir Jean Harrison, Jacmel, Haiti Haiti in developing protocols so that local diocese teams across the country are well prepared for future emergencies; and supporting new approaches to agriculture, which reduce the chances of landslides during the hurricane season. Hurricane Sandy in October last year exacerbated a number of pre-existing problems, including a cholera outbreak. Sandy caused more than 50 deaths and damaged thousands of homes, while an estimated 70 per cent of the crops in the south of the country were destroyed.

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