Emergency Plan of Action Final Report Serbia: Flash floods DREF operation final report Operation n° MDRRS010 Date of issue: 27 May 2015 Glide number: FF – 2014 – 000129 – SRB Date of disaster: 15 September 2014 Operation start date: 15 September 2014 Operation end date: 24 January 2015 Host National Society: Red Cross of Serbia Operation budget: 152,646 CHF Number of people affected: 7,000 Number of people assisted: 3,460 (1,320 families) N° of National Societies involved in the operation: Number of engaged personnel in this operation: Red Cross of Serbia 1,500 staff and volunteers N° of other partner organizations involved in the operation: Emergency Management of the Ministry of Interior, members of the Municipal Emergency Response headquarters (municipal emergency services) A. Situation analysis Description of the disaster Several days of rainfall, especially during the night between 14 and 15 September when 116 liters of rain/m2 fell in less than 24 hours, caused flash floods, landslides and mudslides during the morning hours on 15 September 2014 in the eastern parts of Serbia. In the Bor district, Kladovo, Majdanpek and Negotin, the municipality headquarters for emergency situations declared a state of emergency in all three municipalities. One older person lost his life, and several people suffered minor injuries due to the floods. Three bridges on the highway were damaged, as well as parts of country roads and three bridges on these roads. Due to the violent flow that reached the heights of up to 4-5 meters in Relief distribution by boats to cut-off villages places, mudslides and landslides, as well the Photo: Red Cross of Serbia sediment sludge, more than 5,500 people were cut off from shops, health institutions in the municipality of Kladovo and were deprived of meeting their basic life needs. The situation also complicated the delivery of necessary humanitarian aid, seeing as four out of the ten most affected villages accessible only by boat. In the municipality of Kladovo, a total of 544 residential buildings, 155 buildings, and more than 300 gardens and fields were flooded, while the water torrent and sediment tore down or permanently disabled for residence 12 houses, as well as 29 other buildings. Some,250 most vulnerable persons were evacuated to Kladovo by boat via the Danube river. Out of the total number of the evacuated persons, 107 were temporarily accommodated at the hotel “Djerdap”. An additional 250 persons were evacuated by bus to Karataš (a sports camp outside of Kladovo). In the territories of Majdanpek and Negotin, more than 2,000 people were at risk in 19 local communities. The village of Boljetin was hit the hardest, where almost all of the 260 families suffered some sort of damage, where 3 houses were demolished, 91 got flooded and the floods destroyed plants and crops in gardens in approximately 100 households and the nearby fields. In the territory of Negotin, in 16 local communities, more than 300 families suffered from flood-related damages to residential and other buildings, and to plants and crops in the gardens and fields. Summary of response The Red Cross of Serbia has a great experience in mobilizing volunteers in disasters, assisting people in need, implementing relief distributions, organizing basic disaster response and first aid particularly responding to floods. Each Red Cross branch has a disaster response team with a wide range of activities including water rescue teams that are able to assist in emergency evacuations. The National Society is maintaining a solid disaster response stock which enables its DM department to intervene during the first hours of any disaster. The state of emergency was declared after the September 2014 floods for the territories of the municipalities of Kladovo, Majdanpek and Negotin. The Red Cross of Serbia, in coordination with the Sector for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Serbia, as well as in cooperation with the Red Cross local branches in the affected municipalities, sent out the first relief supplies on the same day (15 September 2014), and the following morning the Red Cross of Serbia sent its national teams to do detailed assessments. Through the assessment between 1,200 and 1,300 families were identified that were most vulnerable and most in need of humanitarian aid. The immediate needs included food, hygiene items, kits for temporary accommodation for evacuated persons, as well as aid for early disaster recovery. After the declared state of emergency, the Red Cross of Serbia deployed the following resources. the National Team for Field Assessment and Coordination of Disaster Response (5 members) for two days; part of the National Team for Rescue, Evacuation and Care in Floods (11 members), implementing specific tasks of transporting humanitarian aid to the affected people on “safe islands” in the territory of Kladovo for two days; the National Mobile Technical Team (in two cases 3 team members, once 4 members and the second time three days in Boljetina – municipality Majdanpek and in one instance 3 members that implemented a two-day assignment in Teki – municipality of Kladovo) by training volunteers in Kladovo on how to use dryers. The members of the mentioned National Teams implemented the following tasks: assessed the needs of the most vulnerable people affected by the disaster, in accordance with the assessment, the Red Cross of Serbia sent humanitarian aid such as bottled water, canned food and hygienic items, from the NS`s disaster response stocks. Relief items provided by Red Cross local branches From 16 September until 30 December 2014, apart from relief assistance for the most affected municipalities sent by the Red Cross of Serbia, 17 Red Cross local branches sent a total of 134 metric tons of humanitarian aid that included bottled water, canned food, hygienic items, blankets, bedding and clothes (please refer to Annex 1). Overview of non-RCRC actors in country The government structures in all three of the affected municipalities and their citizens, the search and rescue forces, the National Army, government officials and humanitarian organizations all took part in the elimination of the consequences of the floods. The National Army deployed 550 members of the military to remove the sediment and construction waste in the affected areas. The public enterprise “Srbijavode” (Serbia Water Management) allocated sedimentary pumps of high capacities for water extraction in the centre of the village Grabovica, where, because of the lack of a drainage system, the rain created a large lake that flooded more than 200 households as well as an electric substation that stopped delivering electrical energy to the system for pumping out rainwater). The Government of the Republic of Serbia provided support for the restoration of all destroyed and damaged bridges, passes and roads on important roadways, and is in the process of including the owners of damaged households into the system of restoration through the Government Office for Restoration after the earlier May 2014 floods. A certain number of humanitarian agencies and organizations were present in the field, for example ADRA provided asistance by allocating approximately 50 wall dryers in the territory of the municipality of Kladovo. Needs analysis and scenario planning The beneficiary list was compiled by the Red Cross, in cooperation with local social welfare centers and the local headquarters for emergency situations. The beneficiaries were selected among the most vulnerable population respecting the following criteria: Families whose houses were flooded, destroyed or damaged; Elderly families whose houses or properties were flooded; Single mothers, families with three or more children; Families with a person with a disability; Unemployed persons without a regular source of income whose houses or properties were flooded or damaged by landslides. The assessment identified 1,320 beneficiary families: in Kladovo 880; in Majdanpek 165 and in Negotin 275. Table 1 – Number of families who received in-kind assistance in the territory of the flooded municipalities Number Number Number No KLADOVO of MAJDANPEK of NEGOTIN of families families families 1 Grabovica 222 Boljetin 151 Negotin 135 2 Velika Kamenica 45 Mosna 12 Dušanovac 26 3 Reka 53 Oreškovica 2 Slatina 25 4 Ljubičevac 14 Samarinovac 24 5 Velesnica 20 Urovica 15 6 Brza Palanka 58 Mihajlovac 15 7 Korbovo 30 Radujevac 9 8 Podvrška 100 Prahovo 8 9 Tekija 110 Dupljane 5 10 Kladovo 228 Plavna 5 11 Mala Kamenica 2 12 Kobišnica 2 13 Miloševo 1 14 Vidrovac 1 15 Stubik 1 16 Rajac 1 TOTAL 880 165 275 Risk Analysis The Red Cross`s disaster response teams faced difficulties during the assessment due to the roads being blocked and cut off. The situation also complicated the delivery of the necessary humanitarian aid, as four out of the ten most affected villages were accessible only by boat. The maximum safety of the volunteers and staff safety was ensured through using life-saving jackets and respecting the safety procedures in managing the assigned tasks. B. Operational strategy and plan Overall Objective The immediate needs of up to 3,460 people (1,320 families) in the areas affected by flash floods are met with the Red Cross disaster response team’s assistance through the emergency distribution of food and non-food items, and rehabilitating/cleaning houses. Proposed strategy To accomplish the overall objective, the Red Cross staff and volunteers have been focusing on the provision of emergency food and non-food distribution and water and sanitation related services. The National Team for Rescue, Evacuation and Relief in Case of Floods implemented the task of emergency supply to 3,460 persons in four villages that were cut off from the roads of supply. The most necessary aid items, in total 8,070 kg, were delivered with four boats. The key activities planned as part of this operation were as follows.