Bangladesh: Humanitarian Assistance and Resilience Building for the Rohingya Population and Host Communities in Cox’s Bazar – BGD191
More than two years ago (25 August 2017), the world witnessed one of the largest forced displacements of recent times. Currently, about 911,566 Rohingya refugees are living in spontaneous settlements in Cox’s Bazar. They remain largely dependent on essential humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. Over this period the Government of Bangladesh, UN agencies and I/LNGOs have supported the crisis affected Rohingya community, but the response is critically underfunded. In the beginning, the local community assisted the Rohingya community with essentials, but as the number of Rohingya in Bangladesh territory exceeded the capacity of the host communities, the challenges of inflated commodity prices, increased competition among locals, and refugees for income generation opportunities and depleting forest/natural resources have emerged. As the markets do not have the capacity to supply products meeting the additional demands of the 900,000 Rohingya, brokers and vendors from outside have entered the markets resulting in increased cost of daily essentials. The conflict situation has been further aggravated through the cheap labour provided by some members of the Rohingya community decreasing the daily wage rate of the local population significantly. In addition to this, problems related to environmental degradation, including the destruction of local forests to make space for the Rohingya settlements, has been a source of tension for the host community.
Bangladesh Forum members ICCO, Christian Aid, and DanChurchAid are requesting a total of USD2 million for this Appeal. The response will support Shelter, WASH, Health services, Livelihoods, and Protection.
BGD191 Rohingya Crisis Appeal
Zimbabwe: Drought Emergency-RRF 16/2019.
The government of Zimbabwe in August declared the drought situation in Zimbabwe a national disaster and appealed for international humanitarian assistance.
The drought is due to poor 2019 harvests caused by the El Nino phenomenon.
An estimated 31 per cent of Zimbabwe’s rural population (2,878,957 persons) require urgent action to protect and save livelihoods, reduce food consumption gaps, and minimize acute malnutrition.
Affected communities also need assistance with market linkages as the markets are depressed and there is a need for an intervention that ensures that communities can purchase food from the market.
Two national ACT Zimbabwe Forum members Methodist Development Relief Agency (MEDRA) and Lutheran Development Services (LDS) are preparing to respond through the Rapid Response Fund in the sectors of food and safe water provision.
Zimbabwe_Emergency Drought Response (RRF)
Liberia: Emergency Response to Flood affected Communities in Liberia (LBR 191)
The region of Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount, Margibi, Bomi and Lofa counties in Liberia, have been hit by an extremely heavy downpour causing flash floods, leaving many towns around Monrovia and surrounding counties flooded. As a result, at least 187 homes have been damaged and property destroyed.
The Lutheran Development Service in Liberia working with other local church partners has raised a 12 months $ 462,038 appeal to support to meet the Shelter, WASH, Food Security and other needs of non-displaced flood-affected persons who suffered a loss of assets or livelihoods.
The project will also support to strengthen Community Disaster Preparedness and Build Community Resilience to Flood and Storm Disasters in regions most affected by floods.
LBR191 – Flood Emergency (Appeal).
Vanuatu: Emergency Response to Manaro Volcano Eruption in Penama Province RRF 15/2019
On 18th March 2018 the Manaro volcano on the island of Ambae erupted and for the second time in six months triggered a state of emergency and mass evacuations of the population. The heavy outpourings of ash and gas has resulted in hazards of acid rain, flash floods, loss of food and water sources, and damage to infrastructure and human health. Large portions of the island were significantly impacted, all education institutions and key government services were closed and staff and students evacuated to other islands.
Volcanic Alert remains at Level 2 by the end of 2018 but the possibility of escalation is low. However, the area remains at high risk for flooding, landslides and continued ashfall deposits and volcanic gases. Residents need to restore their livelihoods and repair their shelter and homes in Ambae island. They need support on capital inputs for farming and livestock and assistance in shelter repairs.
Anglican Overseas Aid leads this response together with ACT for Peace and Churches of Christ Overseas Aid with support from ACT Alliance’s Rapid Response Fund.
RRFs Vanuatu Volcanic Eruption
Pakistan: Emergency Response to people affected by the earthquake in Kashmir – RRF 14/2019
The 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Pakistan last 24 September 2019, affected a total of 10,500 families in Mirpur and Bimber Districts of Kashmir. Thirty-nine people died and more than 1,600 injured. In addition to the loss of livelihoods opportunities, the earthquake damaged infrastructure (roads, water supply schemes, power supply etc.), houses and animal shelters especially in the rural areas of these hard-hit districts.
The initial assessments highlight that lack of appropriate shelter for the families whose houses are damaged, unavailability of safe drinking water and essential FI/NFIs, environmental health, and protection of women/girls are among the top needs in the areas.
Community World Service Asia (CWSA) will provide tents to the most vulnerable families with funding from ACT Alliance’s Rapid Response Fund.
RRFs Pakistan Earthquake RRF142019
Bolivia: Emergency Response to Fires affected in Bolivia
In early August, a forest fire started in the department of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, which has increased the sources of accelerated burning. According to the most recent OCHA report (1 Oct. 2019) on the fires, Wildfires continued to rage through South America including Bolivia, experiencing a spate of fires due to lower humidity, strong winds and longstanding agricultural practices of clearing farm land with fire. Authorities in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, report that fires have consumed at least 3.3 million hectares. On 17 August, the Santa Cruz departmental government issued a decree to mobilize human, technical and logistical resources to address the forest fire.
The Government of Bolivia has requested assistance in fighting the fires, which is the current priority for the State, In this area, many of the low-land indigenous populations maintain autonomous and communally owned indigenous lands (known as Native Community Lands. Reactivation of hot spots in some municipalities, particularly those in rural areas, has hindered the ability to control and curb the extension of the fires. In this context, the population faces challenges to engage in their habitual daily actions, cope with the emergency and protect their homes, crops, livestock while aiming to prevent the advance of the fire.
The Evangelical Methodist Church in Bolivia (IEMB), will be responsible for the execution and general implementation of the RRF, in close coordination with the local authorities and leadership respectively.
RRFs_Fires_Bolivia_12_2019
Brazil: Emergency response to fires in the Brazilian Amazon
An unprecedented number of fires have raged throughout Brazil in 2019, intensifying in August. There have been more than 80,000 fires so far this year, the most ever recorded by the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). It’s a nearly 80 percent jump compared to the number of fires the country experienced over the same time period in 2018. More than half of those fires are taking place in the Amazon. Environmentalists have been raising the alarm about deforestation since 2018. Most of the worst affected regions are in the north of the country. Roraima, Acre, Rondônia and Amazonas all saw a large percentage increase in fires when compared with the average across the last four years. In the Brazilian Amazon there is a population of approximately 430,000 indigenous people, distributed in 419 Indigenous Lands, occupying an area of 115,342,101 hectares, 22.9% of the total area’s surface, including people in voluntary isolation, who are now at great risk due to the uncontrolled fires.
CESE an ACT Alliance local member from Brazil in coordination with NGOs and local partners will provide food security, basic equipment for firefighting and will provide accompaniment to indigenous leadership to carry out advocacy actions
RFFs_Fires_Brazilian_Amazon
Occupied Palestinian Territory: Humanitarian Response to the Protracted Crisis – PSE 191
A protracted protection crisis continues in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which remains largely attributable to Israel’s ongoing occupation (UN OCHA 2019). For the first time, the ACT Appeal for the OPT was developed from a lens that understands the differences between Gaza and the West Bank in terms of humanitarian impact and scale of needs, but with a strong recognition of the shared and broader needs of the Palestinian people. The ACT Palestine Forum was organized using the same analysis, and Forum coordination is proactively managed between Jerusalem and Gaza despite access and mobility issues. This Appeal is an expression of the Forum’s desire to make direct operational links between the two areas and strengthen its existing platform for coordination, learning, and resourcing across the two areas.
PSE191 Appeal – Humanitarian Response to the Protracted Crisis in the OPT
China: Emergency Response to Typhoon Lekima RRF 11/2019
On August 10th Afternoon, Typhoon Lekima land on Zhejiang province—the east part of China. It affected badly in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, and Fujian. Peak wind gust was 240km/h with as much as 211 mm rainfall, making it the strongest 2019 typhoon to hit the country so far. As of 12 August, Lekima has left 48 dead and 21 missing, affecting nearly 14.02 million people and forcing the relocation of 1.7 million people. Heavy rains and strong gales as well as floods and landslides have caused the collapse of 13,000 houses, damages to 119,000 houses, while 996,000 hectares of corps were affected by the typhoon.
ACT Alliance’s Rapid Respond Fund will support Amity Foundation that will provide hygiene kits to affected households.
RRFs-China Typhoon Lekima – 11 2019
India: Emergency Response to Cyclone Fani in Odisha IND191
Over 16 million people were affected by the very severe Cyclone Fani as it made landfall in Puri District of Odisha State on 3 May. Prior to landfall, nearly 1.2 million people have been evacuated from vulnerable and low-lying areas of at least 11 coastal districts in over 4,000 shelters, including 880 specially designed cyclone centres. Fourteen (14) districts were affected : Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh and Puri. According to Government sources, as of 9th of May, 18,388 villages were affected with 64 casualities and 160 injured. Damages include : 508,467 houses, 181,711.4 agricultural land and 88,04,318 livestock affected with casualty of 41,68,298 (of which 41,62,923 are poultry).
Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) will implement the response with the support from their local partners.
IND191 Cyclone Fani Appeal
