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150 route de Ferney, P.O. Box 2100 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Appeal Tel: 41 22 791 6033 Fax: 41 22 791 6506 E-mail: [email protected] Romania Coordinating Office Europe Floods: Southern Romania Flood Affected EUR0 61 Appeal Target: US$ 199,250 Balance Requested: US$135,155 Geneva, 22 May 2006 Dear Colleagues, Several countries in eastern Europe have been affected by severe flooding as major rivers overflowed due to heavy rains and melting snow in the month of April. The ACT Co-ordinating Office has been approached by its members in Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria and is in the process of issuing three appeals for the Europe Floods. This appeal deals with the floods in Romania and the response of ACT member AIDRom. Many parts of Romania were still recovering from last years’ floods when a new calamity swept across 14 southern Romanian districts in April this year. The river Danube, swollen by heavy rains and melting snow following a harsh winter, has devastated counties in the southern Romanian provinces. In Romania's western county of Timis, the country's worst hit region in last year's floods, people who were displaced last year have again been forced to leave their homes. The state of emergency has been declared in 12 counties. The floods have submerged more than three thousands homes in south-western Romania leaving nearly fifteen thousand homeless and tens of thousands more at risk. People who lost their houses are sleeping in army tents or have gone to relatives, sometimes in other parts of the region, less affected by flooding. The army and local mayors are providing basic assistance – food and shelter – for those accommodated in army shelters or community buildings. Many of those affected are subsistence farmers whose lives are normally already very difficult and now find themselves in an impossible situation without resources to fall back on. Important towns flooded or threatened along the Danube include: Gruia, Calafat, Bechet, Corabia, Turnu Magurele, Zimnicea, Giurgiu, Oltenite, Fetesti, Galati, Braila, Tulcea. Across the region, thousands of soldiers, civil defence and emergency workers and volunteers have been deployed round the clock to reinforce defences, bolster dikes along the Danube and battle the churning waters which are flowing at the highest level in more than a century. Authorities have started controlled flooding to divert water away from low-lying villages. ACT member AIDRom has already assisted 500 of the most vulnerable evacuated families with family food packages (35–40 kg of non-perishable food), water and personal hygiene kits. In the post crisis rehabilitation AIDRom will not engage in the reconstruction of destroyed houses, but will make a substantial contribution in construction materials to 50 of the most vulnerable families who will not benefit sufficiently (partial support) from the Governmental reconstruction program, and who will have to build their new home mainly from their own resources. ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland. Romania – Assistance to Flood Affected 2 EURO 61 Appeal Project Completion Date: 30 September 2006 ACT Reporting schedule Interim narrative and financial reports covering the first half of the implementation will be submitted to ACT CO by 31 July 2006. Final narrative and financial reports will be submitted to the ACT CO by 30 November 2006 (two months after the completion of the project). The final audit will be submitted to the ACT CO by 31 December 2006 (three months after completion of the project). Summary of Appeal Targets, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance Requested US$ Total Appeal Target(s) 199,250 Less: Pledges/Contr. Recd. 64,095 Balance Requested from ACT Alliance 135,155 Please kindly send your contributions to either of the following ACT bank accounts: US dollar Account Number - 240-432629.60A IBAN No: CH46 0024 0240 4326 2960A Euro Euro Bank Account Number - 240-432629.50Z IBAN No: CH84 0024 0240 4326 2950Z Account Name: ACT - Action by Churches Together UBS AG 8, rue du Rhône P.O. Box 2600 1211 Geneva 4, SWITZERLAND Swift address: UBSW CHZH12A Please also inform the Finance Officer Jessie Kgoroeadira ([email protected]) and the Programme Officer Michael Hyden ([email protected]), Elsa Moreno ([email protected]), Mieke Weeda ([email protected]) of all pledges/contributions and transfers, including funds sent direct to the implementers, now that the Pledge Form is no longer attached to the Appeal. We would appreciate being informed of any intent to submit applications for EU, USAID and/or other back donor funding and the subsequent results. We thank you in advance for your kind cooperation. For further information please contact: Director, John Nduna (phone +41 22 791 6033 or mobile phone + 41 79 203 6055) or ACT Program Officer, Mieke Weeda (phone +41 22 791 6035 or mobile phone +41 79 285 2916) ACT Web Site address: http://www.act-intl.org John Nduna Director, ACT Co-ordinating Office Romania – Assistance to Flood Affected 3 EURO 61 Appeal I. REQUESTING ACT MEMBER Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania – AIDRom / Emergency Unit I. IMPLEMENTING ACT MEMBER INFORMATION AIDRom is the Ecumenical Association of Churches, a charitable organisation founded in 1991 – a collaboration between the Orthodox, the Reformed and the Lutheran Churches in Romania to provide assistance to those in need regardless of gender, race, nationality or religion. Initially, the main task of AIDRom was to distribute humanitarian relief aid through specific projects in social, diaconal, ecological and emergency fields, but it was also designated to be an ecumenical platform for the Romanian churches. As an ecumenical, non-governmental body, its primary aim is to ensure an ecumenical co-operation between the member churches (Romanian Orthodox, Hungarian Reformed, German Lutheran and Evangelical Church, and the Armenian Church) on common issues of interest such as education, mission, social diaconia matters, ecology, training for transformation, emergency, as well as financially assisting various ecumenical projects of these churches, through the co-ordination of the member church Bishops’ Offices. As an ACT-member AIDRom Emergency Unit has been implementing emergency programs in Romania since 1997, but the Emergency Unit was already actively involved in this field since its establishment in 1991 (1991 earthquake in Banat Region, and floods in Moldavia, 1995 landslides in Transylvania, 1997-2005 floods in Transylvania, Moldavia Banat and Southern Romania). In co-operation with ACT member Diakonie Emergency Aid (Germany) AIDRom is implementing disaster prevention programs in small rural communities from Romania, in order to assist them in mitigation of effects of various natural calamities. II. DESCRIPTION of the EMERGENCY SITUATION The river Danube, flowing from Central-Eastern Europe crosses southern Romania for a stretch of around 1,100 km, creating a natural border with Serbia and Bulgaria. For the past 100 years, the Danube and its delta have contributed substantially to the economy of Romania, in terms of water resources, electricity production, navigation, fishing and irrigation. However, during the 50 years of socialism, the resources of the Danube were seriously abused and over exploited. One of the most destructive actions taken was the narrowing of the river Danube’s riverbed to gain more fertile land for agriculture. This led to the building of continuous earth dams on the Romanian side of the Danube which have contributed significantly to the disaster in April 20061. Many parts of Romania were still recovering from last years’ floods that claimed scores of lives and destroyed houses, farmland and infrastructure worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Again, flooding has devastated areas in 14 southern Romanian districts. After a harsh winter in many central European countries, the river Danube was swollen by heavy rain and melting snow, accumulating enormous quantities of water. Reaching Romania in the week-end of 14-16 April, its flow reached an all time record of 16,000 cubic meters/second causing havoc in the southern Romanian territories. Across the region, thousands of emergency workers and volunteers have been deployed round the clock to reinforce defences and battle the churning waters, trying to bolster dikes and dams2 along the Danube. In Romania's western county of Timis, the area worst hit in last year's floods, many people who were displaced last year have again had to flee for their lives. A state of emergency has been declared in 12 Romanian counties neighbouring the Danube. Romania's Government initiated controlled flooding to divert water away from low- lying villages and was further “helped” by the collapse of three large dams in south-western Romania which 1 Governmental authorities blamed later (early May) the flooding on Romania's system of dikes, built under communism in the 1960s and 1970s to reclaim land for agriculture. Many of these have cracked or crumbled under the weight of excess water. 2 The Bulgarian shore of the Danube is mostly hilly and for this reason the waters of Danube have flooded mainly the Romanian territories. Bolstering dikes and dams was a necessity to initiate controlled flooding, trying to avoid flooding of largely habited town along the Danube. The dams and dikes in question were so called “protection dams”, but they were built with the earth removed in order to gain more territories for agriculture, rather then with the exclusive purpose of protecting localities of flooding. Romania – Assistance to Flood Affected 4 EURO 61 Appeal flooded thousands of hectares of farmland. Soldiers and civil defence workers have scrambled to reinforce dykes and build sandbag barriers along the river to try to control the flood waters.