Please note information remains limited as actions on the ground are developing constantly and rapidly. Armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine erupted on 24^th February 2022 and within the first 24 hours extensive violence was presented causing loss of lives and massive movement of people. Martial law is invoked allowing authorities to impose restrictions on movement, block rallies, and ban political parties and organisations, by doing so civilians in Ukraine have to look to the military to enforce laws. Airports are now shut, few number of railways are operational. Since military governance is in place governors of each Oblast hold all the power. Millions of civilians fleeing the violence are heading towards Western districts and towards neighbouring countries such as Poland, Moldova, Romania and Hungary, final destination is not clear. Many roads are blocked, male Ukrainians (age 18-60) are halted at the borders. Damage to civilian infrastructure has left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity or water. Hundreds of homes have been damaged or destroyed, while bridges and roads damaged by shelling have left some communities cut off from markets. Besides, even before that, i.e. in the beginning of February, the situation in the demarcation zone in Donbas has worsened. As a result more than 100,000 refugees from Donbass and Eastern Ukraine crossed the border to find refugee to the territory of the Rostov region of Russia. Civilians fleeing violence – armed conflict in Ukraine

The state of São Paulo was hit by heavy summer rains that affected with greater severity the metropolitan area of the state capital. Between January 29 and 30, it rained from 80 mm to 170 mm in several areas of the central and eastern parts of the state. The 4-day accumulation was very close to the historical monthly average of rainfall. On the 1rst of February, because of this accumulation, the summer rain resulted in the displacement of more than 4,500 families in the 37 affected municipalities and 29 deaths. Among these deaths, 8 are children and 4 adolescents. There was also great infrastructures damage. The highest number of deaths is concentrated in the municipality of Franco da Rocha, where there are also 7 people missing in the landslide area and who are still being searched for by volunteers and rescue teams.  The region of Franco da Rocha was the most damaged by the January rains. With 156.4 thousand inhabitants, Franco da Rocha is the third city in the metropolitan region of São Paulo with the most risk areas mapped. There are 382 points at risk of collapse or flooding, where around 19 thousand dwellings are located. The city of Franco da Rocha has issued an alert for the opening of the floodgates of a dam, as it has reached its safety limit, with 81.6% of its operational capacity. Brazil_Floods_Sao_Paulo_alert

A new tropical cyclone named BATSIRAI formed over the Indian Ocean on 27 January and started moving westward, toward Mauritius, Réunion, and Madagascar. On February 05, 2022, around 15.00 UCT, its center was located 118 kilometers from the East coast of Madagascar. Madagascar was still picking up the pieces after Tropical Storm Ana affected at least 131, 000 people across the island in late January with almost fifty-five deaths (Aljazeera, Feb 2022). At least 20 deaths are reported with 15,489 households displaced according to CRIC (Intersectoral Reflection Committee for Disasters). At the national level, the operational structure under the leadership of the National Risk and Disaster Management Office (BNGRC) has coordinated emergency response actions. The two national ACT members in Madagascar are SAF/FJKM (The church of Christ in Madagascar) and SMT FLM Malagasy Lutheran Church) are planning to respond to the crisis. Madagascar_Cyclone BATSIRAI (alert).

From January 23^rd to 25^th 2022, there was accumulated precipitation under influence of Tropical Storm Ana that made Mozambique experience heavy rain across the country, affecting the Northern area of the country. The storm subsequently headed westwards, significantly affecting Nampula, Zambezia, and Tete provinces respectively. The Tropical Storm Ana reached the province of Nampula, Zambezia, and Tete on the 24th, having entered from Angoche district. This storm influenced the weather, heavy to very strong rains, accompanied by thunderstorms and winds of 85 to 100 km/h and gusts up to 130 km. The short- and long-term consequences for people are particularly difficult for female-headed households (FHHs), including widows, who are both the income provider and main caregiver. The identified gaps so far include the need of food and non-food items, water sanitation, temporary shelter, clothing and all the costs to maintain the processes to reduce vulnerabilities and risk, which is incorporated within each sector. CEDES will support the affected communities with WASH activities which include providing clean water through water filters in Angoche and Meconta in Nampula Province, where CEDES is implementing some projects such as Bread for the World working with communities in components of food security and livelihood. Mozambique_Storm Ana.

Tropical storm Ana made landfall in Namwala, Itezhitezhi, Choma, and Monze districts, in the Southern province of Zambia between 25th -26th January 2022. The storm came westwards and subsequently headed Southwards to the borders of Zimbabwe (Gwembe and Livingstone districts), then Botswana (Kazungula district), Namibia (Sesheke, Samoa districts), and Angola (Shang’ombo district) significantly affecting Southern and Western provinces of Zambia. There have been damages to public infrastructure and private homes, widespread floods, displacements, as well as interruption of basic services reported. The ACT Alliance Zambia Forum members are concerned about this storm and are currently conducting a rapid assessment in affected areas. Zambia_Tropical Storm Ana.

On 24^th and 25^th January 2022, most parts of Southern Malawi were severely hit by heavy persistent rains and strong winds due to the influence of Tropical Storm Ana. The tropical storm, that originated in the Indian Ocean, North-East of Madagascar, made landfall in Malawi on 25^th January 2022, through the Southern Region in Malawi. The storm has now affected a total of 49,214 households (270,677 people) and left 11 people dead and 107 with injuries. The scale of devastation is so unprecedented that on 26^th January 2022, the President declared a state of disaster over the affected districts. Tropical storm ANA-induced disaster caused widespread floods and displaced thousands of people. The storm has damaged power, road, and communications infrastructure disrupted schools, destroyed homes, washed away crops, and contaminated water sources like boreholes, wells, and other WASH facilities. The stormy rains have largely affected many districts in the Southern Region, with Mulanje, Phalombe, Thyolo, Blantyre City, Zomba, Neno, Machinga, Mangochi, Balaka, Chikwawa and Nsanje, and Mwanza among the worst hit. Thousands of households in these districts are hosted in school and church compounds/camps and others are hosted by relatives. ACT Malawi Forum national members CARD and ELDS are planning to conduct a rapid assessment and plan to submit a rapid response fund request to support the affected. Malawi-Floods alert

In the afternoon of Thursday the 16 December 2021, the region of CARAGA and other affected regions in the Philippines, was battered by catastrophic winds sustained at 195 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 270 km/h brought by Super Typhoon Rai (local name: Odette). Typhoon Rai, a category 5 typhoon in its initial landfall, wreaked havoc in several regions and made landfall in a number of areas in Mindanao and Visayas (southern Philippines) and parts of Luzon. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Typhoon Rai has killed at 31 people and displaced 488,463 persons, with numbers still increasing as reports from the local government units continue to pour in. The typhoon left the Philippine area of responsibility on Saturday afternoon, 18 December. Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal 4 was raised in several provinces which meant very destructive typhoon-force winds were experienced. Floodwaters in some areas reached chest-high and some even reaching the roofs of many houses, inundating many low-lying communities. Flashfloods and storm surges were reported in coastal areas. Houses and infrastructure, as well as agricultural lands were devastated. There were power outages and downed telecommunication lines caused by heavy rains and strong winds, making it very challenging to get information on the damages in badly affected areas, particularly small islands.  The Philippines is the ninth country most-prone to the impacts of climate change, and the poor communities are the ones mostly experiencing the brunt of extreme climate-induced weather events. Evacuation centers for the typhoon affected families are being updated since some of them were used as isolation facilities to those who contracted COVID-19. Since the Omicron variant was just detected in the country, there is a possibility of an outbreak if the cases will not be detected and contained. Meanwhile, the supposed mass COVID-19 vaccination drive in most of the country was postponed due to the storm. ALERT Philippines Typhoon

According to OCHA, in 2,021, 126,675 people crossed the border between Colombia and Panama through the Darien Gap. Notwithstanding high under-reporting, local authorities and national and international NGOs located in the area have identified that many people from several countries chose the Darien Gap as a viable migration route, despite the great challenges imposed by the geography of the place and the conflict dynamics present in the territory: In the first three months of 2022, 13,425 people crossed through the Gap—at a rate of more than double when compared with the 5,622 people who crossed in the same period in 2,021.

As per the Colombian Ombudsman in his last field visit to Necoclí (Antioquia) in June 2022, the dire humanitarian situation is driven by mixed migratory flows, that sum up more than 19,000 refugees and migrants (about 25% of them are children) coming from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and some African countries, who are stranded in the municipality of Necocli seeking to reach Central America and the US.

Some other trends identified by the Ombudsman and UN agencies such as UNICEF are as follows: i) migrant profile has changed as most of the migrant population stagnated come from Venezuela, extremely impoverished as many of them come from countries as far as Chile on foot, by bus and lack the resources to sustain themselves and pay the high cost of crossing the border; ii) the increase of migrant families with children, in comparison to 2,021 when the predominant demographic group migrating were young male individuals and, iii) the most concerning trend, the increase of non-accompanied children. According to UNICEF, the number of non-accompanied children has increased twofold in 2,022 with 169 children aged 0 to 17 years and 41 children aged 13 to 17 years, who are more vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation and, use and forced recruitment by illegal groups. Up to date, 5,000 children have crossed the border since January 2,022.

The ACT forum Colombia through one of its members, the Fundación de Diaconia PAZOS, is planning on submitting an Appeal proposal to provide humanitarian relief through the adaptation of a temporary shelter that meets the habitability conditions. It is also expected to provide humanitarian assistance in food security (delivery of CVA), WASH (delivery of hygiene kits), and Protection (including SGBV and Child Protection, through psychosocial support and the strengthening of the local referral mechanism). 

In the afternoon of Saturday the 4 December 2021, the sub-districts of Pronojiwo and Candipuro in the district of Lumajang in East Java, Indonesia, was hit by volcanic eruption of Mount Semeru. As of 9th December, the government reported 43 people killed, 218 injured, and 5,205 people directly affected, with some 3,697 people who are displaced. UN OCHA recorded more than 300 government and non-government institutions that have provided relief assistance to the affected people . ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) reported 2,970 houses were damaged and thirteen public facilities . ACT Indonesia Forum members, PELKESI and YEU, will access ACT's Rapid Response Fund to respond to the disaster. ALERT Indonesia Volcanic Eruption

The worst drought in 40 years and rising food prices have resulted in high acute food insecurity in Angola. A recent IPC report shows that 1.58 million people are likely to be food insecure (out of which 416,600 people in IPC4) throughout the end of 2021 and until March 2022. The ACT Angola forum is planning to submit an Appeal to provide the much-needed emergency food and WASH-related support to affected communities. The agencies include Norwegian Church Aid, Lutheran World Federation- World Service, and Conselho de Igrejas Cristã em Angola (a national member). Angola_Drought

On the early morning of Saturday, the 14th of August 2021 at 8:30am, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the Southern peninsula of Haiti with Petit Trou de Nippes as the epicenter of the earthquake. The vibration was felt all over the country and as far as Jamaica.  Aftershocks are still happening with more than three registering more than 6.2 magnitude in the Richter scale. About 1,297 deaths were initially reported and more than 5,000 people injured according to the civil protection direction (DPC). About 7,369 houses have been destroyed and 4,852 houses damaged in the three departments of the Sud, Grand Anse and Nippes. Several public buildings such as schools, churches, hotels, and private enterprises have also collapsed. More than 14,000 families have been affected in the three departments.). Some affected areas have lost access to electricity, communication, water, transportation access (by air and land), and in some cases, food sources. The Haitian government has started to deploy rescue and assistance to the affected areas. Tropical Storm Grace is also predicted to hit the country in the morning of the 17th of August 2021 making the situation worse. The storm may have devastating impact on the people already affected by the earthquake. While last month, Haiti’s president was assassinated, causing turmoil in the country. ACT Alliance is currently monitoring the situation and is supporting local partners to carry out rapid needs assessments in affected areas. Emergency teams are preparing to be deployed. The forum plans to raise an appeal pending their needs assessment analysis. Alert Haiti Earthquake

In Liberia, from 3^rd January 2020 to 16^th July 2021, there have been 5,306 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 148 deaths, as reported by the World Health Organization. Liberia has administered at least 95,423 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that is enough to have vaccinated about 1% of the country’s population. Liberia is reporting 43 new infections on average each day, expressing a 23% peak — with the highest daily average reported on July 8^th, 2021. In Liberia, there is a misconception that traditional herbs will prevent/cure one of COVID-19, especially among the rural dwellers. As a result, there is apathy to seek much-needed medical attention in hospitals when symptoms persist. Unfortunately, this situation is exacerbated as hospitals have been turning away patients due to their lack of medication. Also, there is a need to support proper diet to expedite the recovery of patients. ACT Liberia Forum is planning to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable through an appeal. Liberia_Response to COVID-19 Pandemic