Alert

Colombia - No. 50/2008

Colombia floods

Geneva, 11 December 2008

1. Brief description of the emergency: The second winter rain wave of 2008 in Colombia began in August and reached a critical point in October, creating a general emergency in the country. The National Center for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported on 4 December 2008 that 26 out of 33 departments had been affected by continuous rains all over the country. An estimated 827,000 people in 320 municipalities were affected, with 1,685 houses destroyed and 75,989 houses damaged.

2. Impact: The Winter Season Report (4 December 2008) of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) emphasized the serious situation in El Chocó with 21.7 percent of the population affected. El Chocó is the second most affected department with 102,245 affected people and 11,777 houses damaged. This winter wave has caused the overflow of the Rivers San Juan, Baudó, Atrato and all its tributaries, causing destruction of houses, loss of crops, animals and much of the agricultural tools. For two weeks straight, the rains fell in these river basins, intensifying the already critical humanitarian situation when the San Juan river overflowed on 26 November 2008. The San Juan river rose up to six meters above its usual level in some places.

The Community Council of San Juan (ACADESAN) reported that two of its leaders disappeared due to the floods, and issued a report on the losses suffered by the communities.

In these communities there is a high level of unattended basic needs. In particular people need shelter, hygiene kits, cleaning materials, cooking utensils, medicines, batteries, lighters, food and tanks for water storage. The Istmina Diocesis attends 18 municipalities in the area with approximately 800 comunidades. The proposed area of intervention focuses on one of the most critically affected portions of the municipality of Medio San Juan.

3. National and International Response: On 6 December 2008, an Emergency Council was called at the national level by the National Service of Learning (SENA) that included 17 of the affected departments. The Colombian Red Cross started a campaign aiming at collecting food and other elements for emergency support to the most affected areas. The United Nations Emergencies Team is conducting needs assessment missions in some departments. It is expected that these teams will support La Mojana and Magdalena Medio. At the local level, the governor declared a "State of Public Calamity" in El Chocó, and announced large investments, but so far nothing has been done. The Diocese of Quibdó launched a campaign of solidarity with the affected people to be started on 10 December 2008. There is no report on direct aid in rural areas of El Chocó.

4. ACT International Response: On 10 December 2008, a coordination meeting of the ACT Colombia Forum was held to assess the situation and to agree on the emergency intervention to be implemented together in El Chocó.

5. Programmed Activities:

• A coordination meeting for a joint response of Christian Aid, ICCO en Kirkenactie and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) was held on 11 December 2008. The intervention by the three members of the ACT Colombia Forum has been ratified and regular communication is underway with the dioceses in the region.

• Immediate investigation on the situation of the indigenous communities in the same area of Atrato and San Juan.

• Visits in the next few days to the region with the accompaniment of representatives of the Social Pastoral Work of the Dioceses of Istmina and Quibdó, in order to confirm information and to complete the needs assessment. The identified communities are located 5.5 hours by road or by boat from the city of Quibdó.

• Development of a Rapid Response Fund (RRF) request to be sent to the ACT Coordinating Office in Geneva.

• Start of activities in response to the emergencies in partnership with communities in the areas of Alto Atrato and San Juan, in the Department of El Chocó.

Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Finance Officer (jkg@act-intl.org).

(ends)

ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.