Heavy rains from two low pressure systems along Central America and the Caribbean affected Central American countries since October 4 , resulting in flash floods and mudslides across western Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the coast of Guatemala.  As of early Monday, October 8 , at least 13 deaths have been reported (6 in Honduras, 4 in Nicaragua, 2 in El Salvador, 1 in Costa Rica) and thousands of people have been evacuated. Additionally the tropical storm Michael heading to US gulf coast is embedded on the north side of a large area of surface low pressure called a Central American Gyre, which is straddling Central America. The counter-clockwise flow of air around this low has brought a moist flow of Pacific air inland over Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, bringing 48-hour rainfall amounts in excess of 10” to portions of those nations. This low-pressure system will continue to bring heavy rains to portions of the Pacific coasts of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras through Monday, bringing dangerous flash flooding and mudslides.

In Honduras, the worst hit areas have been Francisco Morazán (home to the capital Tegucigalpa), Valle, and Choluteca, where some areas remained cut off as of late Sunday, schools will be closed nationwide on Monday. In El  Salvador, at least two people were killed, including one who drowned Arambala and one killed by a fallen tree in Ahuachapán, further rain is forecast through October 9.  At least one person was killed in Costa Rica. As of Sunday evening, the meteorological authorities were warning of ongoing flooding in Guanacaste and Puntarenas, as well as the continued risk of landslides in the Cordillera de Tilarán, Pacífico Sur, and Cerro de la Muerte areas.

In Honduras, 7 013 people have been affected, 3 019 people have been evacuated and 2 746 people are housed in temporary shelters. In Nicaragua, 13 000 people are affected and 2 880 are in shelters, while in Costa Rica, 125 190 people are affected and 2 793 people are located in 28 shelters.

Alerts are still in effect in Central America due to ongoing precipitation up to 300-400 mm: Honduras (Red Alert in 3 departments), Costa Rica (Red Alert in 3 districts of Puntarenas), Nicaragua (Yellow Alert at national level), El Salvador (Yellow Alert in 31 municipalities), and Guatemala (Yellow national
institutional alert).

ACT Alliance members work in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, in the five
countries currently the national forums are monitoring the development of low pressure system and
are in contact with the authorities and other NGOs in preparation to respond.

Alerts_Floods_Landslides_CA

In the evening of Friday the 28 September 2018, the city of Palu and Donggala in Central Sulawesi, was hit by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake with the epicentre at 10 km deep located 27 km away from Donggala City. It is at the Palu-Koro active fault in Central Sulawesi. The earthquake triggered tsunami along coastal areas in Palu and also in Donggala. Aftershocks are still felt with the latest 5.5 magnitude on 29 September 2018 at 04:24 am (local time). Initial report from the BNPB (National Disaster Management Agency) says that dozens buildings collapsed in Palu and Donggala. Early Sunday (30 September 2018), Indonesian Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho put the death toll at 405 , but the number is expected to rise. At least 540 have been injured, and 29 are listed as missing. Rescue efforts are underway with the national support being ready to be deployed. People are advised to be on alert and remain outside of their homes for fear of the powerful aftershocks. Electricity and most telecommunication providers are still cut off. The airport in Palu released the formal closure of the airport operation until 29 September 2018 at 07:20 pm due to damage of air traffic controller system. Thus, any relief deployment will be through alternative land and air transports (other airport routes). It is expected that the local authority will declare the state of emergency as soon as possible.

Alerts Earthquake in Central Sulawesi

On the morning of Tuesday the 4th  September 2018, the city of Harare in Zimbabwe, was hit by an outbreak of cholera.

The Government of Zimbabwe declared a state of emergency after cholera and typhoid spread fast hitting the capital city, infecting 7,000 and killing 28 people in 2 weeks in a high-density area. The emergency response is being coordinated by Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

The disease has affected high-density suburbs in Harare and the situation is compounded by the fact that affected suburbs have open sewage, uncollected garbage and affected persons continue to expose themselves through unsafe hygiene practices.

Even though Zimbabwe central and local government has insufficient medication to support the affected, Zimbabwe Government has since established treatment centres to quarantine infected persons.

World Health Organization has reported that this cholera strain has proven to be resistant to first line of antibiotics, further compounding the problem.

 ACT Zimbabwe Forum which has been in existence since 2000 is now planning to help people affected by the epidemic. ACT Zimbabwe forum is planning to submit a funding proposal to improve access to safe water, provide hand sanitizers, support water purification, garbage clearing and provide educative information to ensure that the epidemic affected persons’ basic needs are met with regards to WASH.

To ensure that the humanitarian response is well coordinated and complementary, Zimbabwe ACT forum will take part in meetings with all relevant sector stakeholders (clusters and working groups) and establish an open line of communication with crisis affected persons and communities to ensure a humanitarian response based on participation and feedback.

The plan is to support 70,000 persons in the coming months.

Zimbabwe_Cholera emergency

After a good start of the 2018 rainy season in April, a reduction in the quantity and distribution of rains has been observed and is likely to impact basic grains crops in Central America´s Dry Corridor.  Specific areas in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have reported more than 25 days without rain, yields
reduction and crop losses, particularly affecting subsistence farmers.

Typically, there is little to no rainfall in August, which is called the canícula in Spanish. However, since the canícula arrived much earlier than usual this year, crops losses have been significantly higher in the affected areas due to the sustained drought conditions.

El Salvador’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) confirmed that the drought has affected approximately 57,000 hectares of land, of which around 22,000 hectares of cropland has been destroyed, resulting in the loss of 2.7 million quintals of corn and USD$37 million in damages.      The Salvadorian Chamber of Small and Medium Agricultural Producers (CAMPO) estimates that the corn crop losses to date are even higher at 4.1 million quintals and that they could surpass 6 million quintals if the drought continues since 2.3 million quintals are at risk. The drought has affected 77,322 agricultural families in El Salvador.

The General Direction for Civil protection declared a red alert for 143 municipalities in the central and eastern parts of the country on 24 July 2018 to provide humanitarian assistance to the affected families. According to the last COF (Climate outlook forecast for Central America), below average precipitation and an early end as well as irregular rains during the Postrera (second sowing season) campaign could affect the harvest of the basic grains, especially for subsistence farmers.

Alerts_El_Salvador_Drought

The absence of significant rainfall in the last two to three seasons have triggered drought emergency in the southern part of Sindh Province in Pakistan. As per Sindh drought assessment conducted by FAO and EU in 2017, 100% of the area of Tharparkar was facing severe water scarcity. The district of Umerkot was facing severe water scarcity in 83.8% of it’s area and moderate water scarcity in the other 16.2%. As of 2018, the situation has become worse due to continuing lack of rainfall in the monsoon season. The national average for rainfall has been -24.4% below average with the Sindh region suffering most, receiving rainfall -69.5% below average. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), most of the districts in the province did not receive any rainfall in the month of August. This situation is leading to adverse effects on agricultural and domestic needs of the local communities in the area, further exacerbating the prevalent problems of poverty and child malnutrition. In the district of Tharparkar alone, nine infants have been reported dead during the month of August, while a total of 375 children have died due to malnutrition in 2018.

Alerts Drought in Pakistan

Super Typhoon Mangkhut (local name “Ompong”) is forecast to make landfall in northern Philippines at 2:00 AM on 15 September 2018. Its path is likely to affect the same regions hit by Tropical Storm Barijat just recently.  Mangkhut has maximum sustained winds of up to 205 km/h, gustiness of 255 km/h and moving west at 30km/h.  It has a radius of 500 km and possibly affecting about 8 million people based on population census of the most affected regions.  UN OCHA estimates 1.9 million people are along the direct typhoon path with about 60,000 vulnerable households, including indigenous peoples communities.   Most critical regions likely to be affected by landslides and floods are Apayao, Batanes, Babuyan Islands, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, and Isabela. Southwest monsoon rains will further worsen the impact.  With forecast rainfall of 150-250mm in Northern Luzon, this may cause flooding in the main affected regions, including peripheral areas as far as Metro Manila. Shelter and livelihoods, especially rice and corn farms, will likely be damaged.  Clean potable water will also be needed.  The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) is on Red Alert and its local units have conducted their Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment.  NDRRMC has also activated its  National Response Cluster.

Alert Super Typhoon in The Philippines

On 27th of December 2017, the region of Paoua in the Central African Republic (CAR) was affected by fighting between armed groups, which signaled the start of a prolonged slow-onset crisis in this particular region. At least 78,000 People from the villages of Bah-Bessar, Mia-Pendé, Nana-Barya and Banhin Ouham Pende were forced to flee their homes in search of refuge and protection mostly fleeing to the city of Paoua.

Due to hosting IDPs over an extended period, the residents of Paoua city (the host population of around 40,000 people) have increasingly exhausted family resources are also now in need of support.

In June 2018, as fighting continued to decrease, IDPs from the city of Paoua (68,670), started returning to their villages, only to find burnt down homes, schools and destroyed livelihoods. Because of this desperation, many prefer to return to the city of Paoua to seek humanitarian assistance or other means of support and continue to live as IDPs in the city of Paoua.

There is necessity to save lives and alleviate suffering of people including children and women affected by the conflict in Paoua city and the villages in Ouham Pendé prefecture.

The ACT CAR Forum, which was officially established in 2018, is issuing this Call for Action to raise support and respond to the plight of IDPs, returnees and host communities in Ouham Pende; more specifically IDPs in Paoua city who would wish to resettle back to their villages. This initiative by the CAR Forum is seen as a crucial initial undertaking to strengthen how ACT Forum members work collaborate in responding to what has become a complex emergency.

ACT Alliance CAR Forum is monitoring the situation and emergency teams are ready/preparing to respond according to the results of a contextual analysis and rapid needs assessment.

CAR _Emergency Response to IDPS in Paoua City (Call For Action).