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

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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

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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

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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. CAFOD responded through local partner Caritas Jacmel, helping families to make a living again.

Find out more at cafod.org.uk/haiti

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Crisis update Horn and East Africa

Kenya elections The Kenyan elections on 4 March were conducted relatively peacefully, with Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto of the Jubilee Coalition declared the winners. The result was unexpected, with Kenyatta clinching victory in the first round with a margin of 0.07 per cent - roughly 8,000 votes over the 50 per cent plus one required to avoid a run-off. Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga contested the results, but Kenya’s Supreme Court CAFOD’s 2011 East Africa crisis appeal raised £4.9m. unanimously upheld Kenyatta’s victory.

CAFOD supported the Catholic Church with a high-profile, country-wide ‘Keep the Peace’ campaign before, during and after the elections. Support was also given to train Church staff as election observers.

This was the general Drought recovery: Kenya “ The long rains from March to May have been normal or better than election when the normal over much of the country. However, flooding in some areas has peace movement won. destroyed roads and forced people from their homes. The rehabilitation Everywhere I went, it was phase of CAFOD’s humanitarian programme following the 2011 drought is continuing across the country. evident Kenyans were

determined that history Drought recovery: Tanzania would not repeat itself” More than 700,000 people face food shortages following the failure of the short rains, which normally contribute to about a third of the total food Joseph Kabiru, CAFOD Kenya production in the country. Following erratic rains, food production in the districts of Muleba, Siha, Bagamoyo, Bunda, Kondoa, Kilwa, Liwale and Momba has declined to about 15 per cent. This has led to an increase in the price of maize, the country’s staple food.

Drought recovery: Ethiopia Some 2.4 million people will require food assistance in the country in the first half of this year, according to government assessments. The assessment shows more than two-thirds of the people affected are in the Somali and Oromia regions. The number of people affected may increase due to the projected poor belg (February to May) rains. CAFOD’s joint programme with SCIAF and Trocaire (sister agencies in Scotland and Ireland) is continuing across the country.

Find out more at cafod.org.uk/eastafrica

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Crisis update Pakistan

In July 2010, heavier than usual monsoon rains, combined with a lack of preparedness and high levels of vulnerability, led to a nationwide disaster in Pakistan, with floods affecting over 18 million people across the country. The devastation from 2010 was compounded by new flooding in 2011 and 2012, affecting new areas as well as those hit in 2010.

CAFOD partners have supported survivors from 2010 with food distribution, temporary and longer term shelter, health and hygiene kits, and essential household supplies like pots, pans and plastic buckets. Partners have also helped communities to make a living again, providing cash grants in exchange for work – such as rehabilitating roads or cleaning canals – and promoted Disaster Risk Reduction. This rain did not just push “ The flooding last year affected 4.5 million people. Many of the submerged us out of our homes, it villages had already been hit in the past years, and had only just started also destroyed everything to recover. Farmers dependent on small-scale agriculture lost their else we had - our livestock, crops, only a few weeks away from harvest. In the worst-affected areas, standing water has meant that the next planting season hasn’t been harvest, economy, social possible. Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Agency estimates status and our future” that over 245,000 acres of crops in Sindh have been destroyed by flood waters. Debt as a result of loss of income is commonplace. CAFOD Sadam, Sindh Province partners distributed relief supplies to people forced from their homes, and supported the incomes of local people by employing them to work on community rebuilding projects.

Find out more at cafod.org.uk/pakistan

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In Focus Democratic Republic of Congo

The United Nations estimates that a total of 2.6 million people are displaced as a result of fighting between the Congolese army and various rebel groups in the east of the country.

In North Kivu province, there has been recent fighting between two factions of the rebel group M23, which occupied Goma last year. The leader of one of the factions, Bosco Ntaganda, was forced to flee for Rwanda, where he handed himself in to the US embassy. He is now on trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Over the last few months, CAFOD has responded to the humanitarian emergency caused by the M23 uprising. CAFOD partners Caritas Goma and Don Bosco have provided food, shelter kits and emergency supplies to thousands of displaced families in and around Goma, while CAFOD partner APROFIME is working with After dropping out of school, Dieu abandoned children, ensuring that they are safe and attempting used to support his family by to reunite them with their families. CAFOD has also supported begging for odd-jobs on the street. Congolese refugees in Kigeme refugee camp in Rwanda. When M23 occupied Goma in November, he and his family fled In Kitchanga, Masisi, clashes between Congolese government to a camp on the edge of the city. forces and another rebel group – a Mai-Mai faction named APCLS “It was the scariest time in my life,” – has forced 2,000 families from their homes; today, 11,000 he says. When the family returned, families are now displaced in the area. CAFOD partner Caritas their house had been looted. Goma has a strong provincial parish network in Masisi, and was Today, Dieu is learning carpentry the first organisation able to assess the needs. They found that with CAFOD partner CAJED, who give both the displaced families and local families who were supporting vocational training to vulnerable them faced severe food shortages, with little opportunity for young people whose lives have improvement before the next harvest in June. With DFID-funded been torn apart by war. support from CAFOD, Caritas Goma are providing food and “I have been learning carpentry for emergency supplies to 5,000 families, as well as support for victims six months,” says Dieu. “My goal is of violence. to start my own workshop and train other people in these skills. Meanwhile, CAFOD has responded to floods in Dungu by providing “I am very grateful to CAJED. emergency shelters. We are also working with victims of the Without them, I would have Lord’s Resistance Army in Dungu, providing care and helping to no future.” reunite families.

Find out more at cafod.org.uk/DR-congo

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A View from the field

We humans are hurt Catherine Cowley

It feels strange to do “but even as we were moving, part of our house humanitarian work in Turkey. was destroyed by a bomb. My neighbourhood Two years ago, I joined CAFOD had become a battleground, the whole area was as a trainee humanitarian a warzone.” officer. Since then, I’ve been based in Haiti and Kenya, where Ahmed and his family could hardly bring most of my experience has been of bumping anything with them. Their priority was to save along rutted, dusty roads, working with people their photos – a reminder of how their life used who were living in poverty even before their lives to be. A lot of Syrians have told me about the were turned upside down by natural disasters. things they’ve lost: their homes, their gardens, the loved ones. People say that children have The small Turkish town I’ve been working in lost their childhoods. recently, near the border with Syria, could hardly be more of a contrast. Everything seems Mohammed, a 33-year-old father of two, said: stable, calm and prosperous. But look south on “One of the reasons I left home was because a clear day and you can make out large clouds my little girl had started to recognise the noises of smoke rising from across what is, in fact, outside. She could tell what machines they were a heavily mined border. It’s even more shocking – which ones were a tank, which ones were a when you realise that whatever building is machine gun, which ones were a bomb. Children burning probably had people in it. are supposed to know about school and TV. About eating sweets and playing with friends. Take a closer look at passers-by, and you notice But instead they learn the sounds of war.” that many are wearing worn-out clothes and open-toed shoes. Visit the parks around town It’s odd to think that there is a humanitarian and you come across long queues of people emergency happening in relatively prosperous waiting for food. countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, but it’s hard to overstate how dire the situation Turkey has been generous in its welcome is. Every day, an estimated 8,000 Syrians to Syrian refugees, but the number needing are fleeing into neighbouring countries – an support has exceeded all expectations. Some eightfold increase since January this year. have sought refuge in the camps set up by the Turkish government along the border, but The most striking thing for me has been how the rest have had to manage as best they can, quickly, easily and comprehensively everything renting apartments with whatever money they people held dear could be stripped away. have left. It’s not unusual for fifteen or twenty I’ve found the rawness of what people have told people to share one small flat. me heartbreaking.

Many of the Syrians I’ve met come from secure, Mohammed told me: “I am very pessimistic middle-income backgrounds. I’ve realised that about the future of Syria because the damage they share the same hopes that I have – of is so bad. Bridges, houses, and hospitals – at having a job, a car, stability. I hadn’t thought in least they can be rebuilt. We humans are hurt, detail about what would make someone like me though, and I’m not sure we can be fixed.” abandon my home. I’ve quickly realised that, for most of the refugees, it wasn’t a choice, it Catherine Cowley is one of CAFOD’s Emergency was a necessity. Support Ocers “We moved out because we didn’t feel safe,” 37-year-old Ahmed from Aleppo told me, To find out more at org.uk/DR-congo

9 When we see five-year-old children without shoes, without food, we can’t in “the 21st century say it’s not our problem, it’s their problem. It is for all the world to find a solution”

Najla Chahda Director, Caritas Lebanon.

With CAFOD support Caritas Lebanon is delivering aid to thousands of Syrian refugees.

cafod.org.uk/emergencies CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Across the world we bring hope and compassion to poor communities, standing side by side with them to end poverty and injustice.

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Photography: Patrick Nicholson/Caritas Internationalis, Ryan Worms/Caritas Internationalis, Nick Harrop/CAFOD, Nikola Ivanovski/CAFOD, Laura Donkin/CAFOD, Robert Cruickshank/CAFOD, Meighan Bell/CAFOD, Sam Carling/Caritas Suisse

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