OCHA East Hub East Hararghe Zone of Oromia: Flash floods Flash Update No. 1 As of 26 August 2020 HIGHLIGHTS Districts affected by flash floods as of 20 August 2020 • 290,185 people (58,073HHs) were affected due to the recent flood and landslide • 169 PAs in 13 districts (Haromaya, Goro Muxi, Kersa Melka Belo, Bedeno, Meta, Deder, Kumbi, Giraw, Kurfa Calle, Kombolcha, Jarso and Goro Gutu) were affected. • Over 42,000IDPs in those affected woredas were also affected including secondary displacement in some areas like the 56HH IDPs in Calanqo city of Metta woreda • 970 houses were damaged out of which 330 were totally damaged resulting to the displacement for 1090 people. Moreover,22,080 hectares of meher plantations were damaged impacting 18885 people in 4 districts and landslides on 2061 hectares affected 18785 people. A total of 18 human deaths as well as 135 livestock deaths reported. • 4 roads with total length of 414kms were partially damaged which might cause physical access constraints to 4-5 woredas of the zone. 290K 13 affected Districts affected people SITUATION OVERVIEW East Hararghe zone is recurrently affected by flood impact. Chronically,9 woredas of the zone, namely, Kersa, Melak Belo, Midhega Tola, Bedeno, Gursum, Deder, Babile, Haromaya ad Metta were prone to flooding. The previous flood in May affected 8 of the these woredas were 10,067 HHs (over 60,000 people) in 62 kebeles were affected. During this time, over 2000 hectares of Belg plantations were damaged. Only Babile woreda was reached with few assistances from some partners. The NMA predicted that above normal rainfall will likely to happen in the Eastern part after June. As forecasted, many highland woredas of East Hararghe zone started receiving heavy rains starting from July. The intensity of the rain kept increasing from July through August where the pick heavy rain was received during the second week of August in 13 woredas of East Hararghe resulting in flood and landslide. According to the zone DRMO report, the heavy rain on 14 August 2020 resulted in flood and landslide which affected over 290,185 people (58,037HHs) across 169 kebeles in 13 districts of the zone. According to some reports, about 43,193 IDPs(8586HHs) hosted in those affected woredas were also affected by the flood and landslide. These IDPs are the most vulnerable with almost no coping capacity. Haromaya district is with the highest number of affected population-77715 followed by Goro Muxi-42000. However, the highest number people displaced were from Dadar followed by Girawa.Overall ,18 human deaths were reported with the highest number-10 from Deder. A total of 135 livestock death was reported with the highest number-110 from Goro Gutu. In addition, a total of 22,080 hectares of Meher plantations were damaged from 12 woredas with the highest damage-10,186 www.unocha.org hectare is from Haromaya followed by-3331 from Deder. Moreover, a landslide on 2061 hectares of land affected 18785 people leaving 810 people to displacement. A total of 979 houses were damaged from 5 districts out of which 330 of them are total damaged. The highest damage to house is from Metta-289 followed by Goro Gutu-245. In addition to the above damages, the flood also resulted in infrastructure damages to roads. A total of four roads of 414Kms length were reported damaged partially. A road from Harar to Jarso 35Km, Eresa to Kumbi-225km, BBO to Meyu-84km and Qobo to Jaja-70kms were damaged and constraining accesses. Moreover,1 water scheme in Calanqo town hosting IDPs have been damaged. On the other hand, the current security situation in the area constrained access to the affected population restricting partners movement to conduct rapid assessment. Frequent clashes and travel ban by the youth groups has been affecting operation of humanitarian partners. As a result of the recent conflict, huge number of security forces were deployed to the area and several incidents have been reported since 15 August 2020 concurrently during the time of the flood. The secondary reports being received from the respective district DRMOs indicated that the living condition of the flood affected community is deteriorating. The impact is anticipated more severe on those IDPs in secondary displacement as well as other affected IDPs and IDP returnees who have no coping capacity. The displaced people due to the flood are hosted by the host communities sharing a single house for over 2-3 HHs (15-20 people) in a house. This could aggravate the vulnerability to Covid-19 which is alarmingly increasing in the zone. There are concerns that flash flooding could escalate the spread of water born disease including cholera. East Hararghe zone is chronically and recurrently affected by cholera epidemics. HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE Due to the security condition in the area for the last 2-3 weeks, there was a travel restriction from UNDSS until 24 August 2020 which impacted the movement of humanitarian partners in the area. The deployment of huge number of security forces in the area with occasional conflict with the youth is affecting the psychological readiness of partners to freely move in the area Thus, no assessment as well as response has been made to the affected population. In addition to security, lack of resource from the government has constrained the responses. The new year budget has not been released and the local government account is reported almost nil. IMC who is operational in Metta woreda expressed its interest to support the secondary displaced IDPs in Celenqo town as it has secured funding for COVID-19 response with WASH, Health and GVB project in Metta woreda.IMC have deployed program staffs to the woreda and conducting baseline assessment for the new project they are going to implement. They showed green light to consider the IDPs in such a crisis with installation of hand washing facility at the IDPs secondary displacement site, hygiene sanitation promotion activities and WASH NFIs but said that purchase of materials might take some time. Based on the secondary report received from districts, the zonal DRMO is requesting for immediate lifesaving assistance to all the affected community with priority attention to those affected people by flood and land slide as soon as possible while waiting for detail need assessment. Recommendations ➢ Following the improvement of the security situation and the lifting of the UNDSS travel restriction, a multi- sectoral rapid need assessment tot be conducted tentatively from 5-8 Sept. 2020 ➢ OCHA Addis to play advocacy role in raising the issue on the national ICCG for resource mobilization ➢ OCHA Easy Hub to closely follow up the situation and provide updates to concerned bodies ➢ OCHA DD sub office to coordinate and lead the multi-agency need assessment and produce the report as quickly as possible For further information, please contact: Tahir Ibrahim, Head of OCHA East Hub , [email protected] Tel: +251912502692 Yoseph Kanaa, HAO, OCHA Dire Dawa Sub Office, focal for East and West Hararghe zones of Oromia and Harari Region, [email protected],Tel: +251911698989 and Melkamu Dessalegn ,IMO ,OCHA Dire Dawa Sub Office, [email protected],+251 911028820 For more information about OCHA, please visit www.unocha.org/Ethiopia, www.unocha.org , www.reliefweb.int United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs vwvw.unocha.org .