Southern Africa: Floods Emergency Appeal No. MDR63001

This Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 11,409,294 (USD 10,332,633 or EUR 7,131,363) in cash, kind, or services to support the Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe National Societies to assist 30,830 households (154,150 people) for six months.

CHF 1,191,000 was allocated from the Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund DREF) to support this operation. Unearmarked funds to replenish DREF are encouraged.

The National Red Cross Societies of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia are requesting for international assistance through the International Federation of Red Cross to continue with relief assistance to families affected by floods and storms caused by heavy rains since beginning of December 2007. Localised and heavy flooding in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe destroyed houses, infrastructure, crops and livestock, whilst the situation is worsening in Botswana, Malawi's southern districts and in Namibia's Caprivi region in the north. Zambia's flood zones are also expanding in the Western, North-Western, Eastern and in Lusaka provinces. Destructive storms with heavy rains were experienced Lesotho and Swaziland in early January. It is estimated that a total of 66,830 families have been affected, southern Africa and are in need of relief assistance in the form of shelter, food, clean water and sanitation.

The DREF allocation has been used in initiating relief operations and conducting field assessments. Based on the deteriorating situation, the preliminary appeal is being revised to focus on providing appropriate and timely support in delivering relief assistance: basic non-food relief items, provision of temporary shelter, health, clean water, adequate sanitation and capacity development at National Society and community level.

This operation is expected to be implemented over six months, and will therefore be completed by 31 July. 2008; a Final Report will be made available by October, 2008 (three months after the end of the operation).

The situation

The heavy rains that started in December 2007 in most parts of southern Africa caused rivers to swell, resulting in localised flooding, initially in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. In the last two weeks, flooding has been reported in Botswana, Namibia and Malawi, which have been on flood alert since January 2008. Lesotho and Swaziland experienced heavy rains accompanied by destructive hailstorms. The floods have displaced thousand of families and made many homeless. Infrastructure such as roads and bridges have been damage and in some areas communication disrupted. According to figures from the national disaster authorities and the Red Cross National Societies, the cumulative number of affected people is estimated at 64,540 families (322,700 people), with 21,200 families (106,000 people) in Mozambique, 6,500 families (32,500 people) in Zimbabwe and 4,000 (20,000) in both Zambia and Namibia. In Malawi, 27,800 families (139,000 people) have been affected mainly by damage to property and crops.

How we work

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) in Disaster Relief and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Sphere) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable.

The International Federation's activities are aligned with its Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".

Global Agenda Goals:

- Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

- Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

- Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.

· Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.