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Recovery from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines

In the aftermath of the November 2013 typhoon that displaced 4 million people, destroyed 1 million homes, and damaged livelihoods across nine provinces in the central Philippines, ACT members overcame many challenges to reach an estimated 1 million survivors in recovery efforts this year.

As the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall, Haiyan left behind tons of debris and millions of fallen coconut trees. Six months later, the ACT response had shifted from emergency aid to recovery, focusing on shelter and livelihoods, education, psychosocial help and disaster preparedness.

The shelter response was particularly challenging due to the government-imposed 40 metre no-build zones, which left millions of people who had lived on the shoreline now homeless and internally displaced. This was further complicated by bureaucracy of land acquisition in safe locations, delaying the start of any construction.

Despite the difficulties, ACT provided 100,000 people with new shelters in 2014, either permanent or temporary. Construction of permanent housing was modest, as most families whose houses were destroyed lived on rental land or had only verbal agreements with the land owner. After a virtually ineffective land reform 20 years ago, 90 per cent of the land still remains in the hands of big land owners.

“Landlessness makes people vulnerable,” said ACT member Emergency Field Coordinator Joselito Sosmena. “Often people are not allowed to build other than transitional shelters (made of light materials such as bamboo and palm leaves), and these are not safe when a storm comes.”

To support livelihoods, new vegetable gardens have been planted using seeds and tools provided by ACT, and women’s groups have started fish processing in many communities. New boats and/or nets, to replace those broken or lost during the typhoon, have been given to 40,000 fishermen, and more than 75,000 farmers, whose crops were destroyed, have been given what they need to replant.

However, rehabilitation work in the Philippines will be long term, particularly in terms of livelihoods, as the millions of coconut trees destroyed will take seven to 10 years to grow back and provide people with livelihoods once again.

ACT members have been assisting communities to better assess their risks, vulnerabilities and capacities, and to develop disaster preparedness and response plans.

The Philippines is a disaster-prone nation with an average of 20 typhoons per year, around five of which cause serious damage.

Conflict survivors in Kenya

A series of unexpected attacks in Kenya’s Lamu County left 5,574 people internally displaced. Terror inflicted by militant groups included arbitrary killings, sexual violence, looting of property and livestock, and other gross human rights violations.

Many women told the ACT Kenya Forum their stories of the extreme violence, describing how they had to watch their spouses and children killed in cold blood.

During the period of attacks, people were forced from their homes, unable to carry any food or essential items, which aggravated the resulting shelter, hunger and public health needs.

ACT response

ACT members identified these needs and set up initiatives in Mpeketoni, Lamu County, to support the most vulnerable people.

Members worked with a population of 5,000 affected people, providing food and water and essential items such as shelter, clothing and bedding, water treatment tablets, food and water containers, soap and mosquito nets.

ACT also promoted peace-building activities and set up psychosocial support and trauma-healing initiatives for the thousands affected by the violence. The alliance was able to provide health services where need outweighed existing capacity.

Violence in Iraq becoming a runaway crisis, says ACT Alliance

ChristianAid UK and Ireland:

PRESS RELEASE

Over 1.5 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in Iraq and the number is set to increase says international humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance, as the Islamic State continues its encroachment in the region.

Since the group’s violent take-over of large swaths of land in northern and western Iraq, the country according to OCHA is now contending with one of the largest internal displacements in the world.

Contents of a typical hygiene kit distributed by ACT members in emergencies. These include first aid equipment, soap, shampoo, water purifiers and sanitary products which are essential for enabling people to keep clean and healthy, and maintain a sense of personal dignity

“This is starting to become a runaway crisis, and the world must rise up quickly to save the lives of the people who have fallen victims to dangerously armed militant groups,” said John Nduna, ACT General Secretary.

ACT Alliance members, which are on the ground providing humanitarian aid to affected populations, are calling for continued life-saving aid as the conflict intensifies.

Through the ACT Alliance appeal the alliance is providing shelter, food, water, non-food items, hygiene kits, and carrying out protection initiatives particularly for women and children.

The alliance is also calling for human rights and international humanitarian law to be respected, and is urging governments and intergovernmental bodies to find a lasting solution to the crisis and to identify proactive actions to respond to early signs of conflicts.

“There are harrowing stories of decimation of minorities,” said Nduna. “Humanitarian access is critical at this time to ensure that assistance reaches those who need it most, and to ensure those responding can continuously assess the needs and respond accordingly.”

“We cannot underestimate the need for protection of civilians especially women, children, the elderly, those living with disabilities, and minority populations,” he continued. “Deactivation of any humanitarian response and corridors that bring humanitarian aid to displaced populations would only hurt the people who are already suffering.”

ACT Alliance is currently involved in consultations with other international faith-based organisations in a bid to scale up global level humanitarian solidarity, advocacy and assistance to the affected population.

Ends

Notes to Editor:

ACT Alliance is a coalition of 146 churches and affiliated organisations working together in 140 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
Through its member organisations ACT Alliance mobilises more than 25,000 staff and around $1.5 billion for its work each year in the areas of humanitarian aid; development; and advocacy.
ACT Alliance is a member of the International Council for Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) and the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP).
For more information on the ACT Appeal click here
For more information on this press release contact Gorden Simango at ACT Alliance at: gorden.simango@actalliance.org or +41 22 791 6319.
For more information about the ACT humanitarian response please visit our member websites: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/iraq-crisis-appeal/index.aspx, www.lutheranworld.org, http://www.diakonie-katastrophenhilfe.de/hilfe-weltweit/uebersicht-aller-projekte/irak.html

Combatting drought and food insecurity in Somalia

Nearly 1 million people in Somalia were reported to be in need of life-saving help in 2014, 300,000 of whom were malnourished children.

Exacerbating the food situation, Somalia was also dealing with military offensives and threats from insurgents.

The UNHCR estimated that 50,000 people were internally displaced in the first quarter of 2014 alone, with the total figure standing at approximately 1.1 million. The crisis in Somalia is multi-faceted, with each region struggling with its own issues.

ACT response

ACT members undertook assessments in different areas to prioritise the specific needs of the regions. They found that decreased food security was being caused by conflict and the destruction of valuable resources; the erosion of livestock due to lack of water and unprecedented natural disasters, crop failures because of acute water shortages, and high food prices that made it impossible for people living in extreme poverty to eat properly.

It has been a challenge to assist those in need in Somalia. Attempts to aid people were hindered in areas of conflict, where initiatives were sabotaged. Despite the difficulties, there were real achievements in addressing basic food, water and sanitation needs of displaced people and vulnerable host households. These were thanks to well-organised efforts where ACT assisted drought-affected populations in the southern and central parts of Somalia and the Dadaab refugee camp.

Displacement and return in the DRC

Historical violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 1994 and 2003 led to the loss of an estimated 5 million lives.

While violence has subsided to a large extent, in 2014 renewed conflict in the country displaced an estimated 150,000 households, many of them crossing the border to Uganda.

But the gradual restoration of security in the Kamango region of the DRC resulted in the spontaneous return of more than 60,000 people to the area, most coming back from Uganda.

Strongholds under the control of rebels were taken over by the regular army, and local authorities encouraged the return of displaced people.

Assistance from ACT

The focus of the ACT appeal was North Kivu province of the eastern DRC, including the Kamango refugee camp in the Beni territory, where members worked with 48,000 returned people; and in the Rutshuru territory with 24,000 returned people.

The ACT response revolved around food security, nutrition for 3,350 malnourished children, access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation, and psychosocial support.

Responding to drought in Central America

Climate change and the “El Niño” phenomenon of unusually warm ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, saw Central America plagued by drought this year. The lack of water damaged the staple corn and bean crops across the region, reducing harvests by up to 90 per cent in some areas and pushing hundreds of thousands of families into food insecurity.

Central America is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. According to the 2014 Global Climate Risk Index, the countries of Central America are among the 10 most-affected countries, with Honduras holding the top spot globally. There, the government declared a state of emergency because of scarcity of food in the dry corridor in the southern region of the country, which affected around 400,000 people.

100,000 families affected by drought

In El Salvador, around 30 per cent of the annual corn harvest was lost in 2014 and 90 per cent of the annual bean crop. According to the World Food Programme, an estimated 100,000 families were affected, with 25,000 people facing critical conditions of food insecurity. In Nicaragua, nearly 75 per cent of the corn crop was lost in the northern areas of Estelí, Madríz and Nueva Segovia, affecting around 100,000 families. The result was that grain prices significantly increased across the region, restricting access to food for those affected families.

Guatemala also declared a state of emergency in 16 of its 22 provinces, as major losses were reported of the region’s staple foods, maize and beans, and emaciated cattle died from lack of food and water. More than 200,000 families who depended on subsistence farming were considered at high risk, and the eastern side of the country was the most affected, with crop losses of 85 per cent, leading to a 200 per cent rise in the price of corn.

ACT response

The ACT appeal for the region focused on food security, distribution of food kits, the provision of water, and early recovery and livelihood restoration. Thousands of families affected by the crisis were given access to food in the critical period of food shortage, and approximately 1,000 families received improved access to safe water for household use. Two thousand families were provided with the necessary inputs to improve their agricultural production for household consumption. Salvador Perez, a technician in Nicaragua working with communities in the badly-affected area of San Francisco Libre, said: “The Rio Grande has dried up; imagine that, it’s dried up.

There are a few remaining puddles of water, and for people nearby they can take their cattle to water there, but there’s no food, we’re shipping in rice husks for the cows to eat. At the end of this year, the last reserves that farmers have from the late harvest last year will be finished. Scarcity of food has pushed up the food prices so people can’t afford to buy much food. We’re going to need a lot of humanitarian aid to keep people alive.”

The drought is expected to continue and expand into other regions during 2015.

Child migrants in Honduras

Some 61,500 illegal child and adolescent migrants, many coming from Honduras and El Salvador, were caught on the southern border of the United States by US migration authorities between October 2013 and July 2014. More than 13,000 of them were subsequently deported to Honduras, where the authorities, unable to cope with the huge number of returnees, declared an emergency.

ACT Alliance members on the ground stepped in to support deported migrants and their families during the crisis, trying to track down families, providing full support to children whose families were untraceable, and working to address the mental scars of the children’s perilous and often exploitative journey. The reasons people migrate are rooted in endemic poverty and violence in the region.

Thousands die on the journey

Erika Murillo, in charge of the ACT Alliance Rapid Response Fund in the San Pedro Sula areas of Honduras, said: “The route to the US is extremely hazardous. People put themselves in the hands of ‘coyotes’, traffickers who take

people northwards. Many are captured by authorities, or worse, by criminal gangs, and the migrants routinely suffer very badly. Thousands die. But the risk of the journey still appears less dangerous to people here than the risk of staying, the risks of everyday life here. The violence, particularly violence against women, is the most severe in the world, but it is probably extreme poverty that drives most people.

“ACT members work in the worst of these areas on social programmes to provide support to young people and families, and work with the government on emergency issues, including this crisis of migrants,” he continued. “The real issue, however, isn’t that migrants are being deported, it’s that they feel the need to leave the country and to risk their lives on the journey.”

At the Honduras reception centre for repatriated migrants, ACT provided equipment and furnishings for the refuge’s staff and volunteers to support children. Alliance members then helped track down families and paid for the bus fares of those who could not afford it. The children also received psychological support and a ‘mother’ was assigned to each while the refuge searched for their families.

Towards enabling civil society space

Members of the regional ACT South America Forum and Central America and Caribbean Forum undertook a joint advocacy initiative in July 2014 to grow civil society space and south-to-south cooperation, with a dialogue event in El Salvador. In attendance were Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú, El Salvador’s Vice Chancellor and Vice Minister of the Environment, as well as ACT members and civil society organisations from the region.

The event aimed to influence the government to include civil society consultation in the development of its climate change and development policies and strategies, and resulted in the El Salvador government inviting ACT to play a watchdog role in the implementation of these policies and strategies.

Attacks on innocent civilians in Israel oPt conflict must stop says ACT Alliance

Press Release – International humanitarian and development organisation ACT Alliance has condemned the attacks on civilians and called on the international community to act immediately to stop the escalating violence between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

The Alliance is calling for an urgent ceasefire, followed by intensive diplomatic intervention involving all parties including the international community, to deal with the actual causes of the conflict.

The call comes as the world witnesses the worst violence between Israel and Palestine in recent years. ACT Alliance is preparing to provide medication and support to ensure the provision of primary healthcare at outpatient clinics and a hospital in Gaza.

ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna called on the parties to the conflict and the UN to facilitate humanitarian access to those affected, including treatment for the injured and other humanitarian needs.

“Once again, it is innocent men, women and children who are suffering and paying the ultimate price for the failure of the politicians,” said Nduna. “We condemn without reservation any attacks on civilians irrespective of their faith, ethnicity, or nationality, and condemn the use of civilians as human shields. This escalation of violent conflict is a reminder to us all that grief and pain are never far away for Israelis and Palestinians.”

“If the leadership of Palestine and Israel do not urgently pursue a genuine and viable solution to the conflict,” he continued, “then they will be condemning more innocent civilians to despair and hopelessness.”

ACT has been responding to the humanitarian needs of people in Gaza and the West Bank since 2000, providing assistance in the areas of education, health, protection of civilians, access to water and other basic services.

Christian Aid responds to Nigeria conflict that has displaced 50,000

Partners of ACT member Christian Aid are providing emergency support to some 50,000 people who have fled a conflict in the north central state of Benue in Nigeria.

The violence is the latest outbreak of a long-running land dispute between local farmers and groups of nomadic Fulani cattle herders.

Clashes between Fulani and Jukun communities in neighbouring Taraba state have added to the number of displaced people (IDPs).

Neither the state government, nor the federal agency directly responsible for emergency management in the state, have established a camp for the IDPs.

As a result, the displaced are taking refuge wherever they can, with some moving into schools that are empty because of an on-going teachers’ strike.

Christian Aid partners, Jireh Doo Foundation (JDF) and Anglican Diocesan Development Services (ADDS) Makurdi are distributing food and non-food items such as water containers and purifiers, mosquito nets, sanitary towels and cooking utensils.

In addition, psychosocial counselling is being provided, and general health education on water and sanitation hygiene to help prevent the spread of disease.

JDF and ADDS Makurdi are working with other civil society organisations and media to put pressure on the government to respond adequately to the crisis.

Charles Usie, country manager for Christian Aid Nigeria said: “Farming is the primary occupation in Benue state and the main source of income for most households.

“As well as people losing their lives, violent attacks during this conflict have destroyed farmlands leaving people homeless and jobless. This is another example of the growing insecurity in the country but we must put pressure on the authorities – they cannot ignore the crisis in Benue”.