USAID/OFDA Cyclone Sidr Situation Report #11:

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 DHAKA 001925 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SES-O DEPT FOR SCA/PB, SCA/EX DCHA/OFDA FOR ROBERT THAYER AID/W FOR AA MARK WARD AND ANE ANNE DIX DCHA/FFP FOR MATTHEW NIMS AND PAUL NOVICK ROME FOR FODAG BANGKOK FOR RDM/A TOM DOLAN, ROB BARTON KATHMANDU FOR USAID OFDA BILL BERGER AND SUE MCINTYRE TREASURY FOR ELIZABETH WEISS AND SUSAN CHUN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREL ASEC CASC AMGT SOCI ECON PINR EAGR SENV BG SUBJECT: USAID/OFDA Cyclone Sidr Situation Report #11: Demobilization of USAID/DART in Bangladesh ¶1. Summary. With the approach of the one-month anniversary of the November 15 cyclone in Bangladesh as well as improvements in humanitarian indicators, USAID's Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART) will demobilize. USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) will now focus efforts on early recovery. Close collaboration among the USAID/DART, USAID/Bangladesh, the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, and the U.S. military led to a well-coordinated, effective humanitarian response. The interagency U.S. Government (USG) response worked together with the Government of Bangladesh (GOB),U.N. agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to enhance response efforts and provide crucial and timely assistance to cyclone-affected populations. To date, USAID has provided more than $19.5 million in humanitarian assistance to cyclone-affected communities in Bangladesh. Although the Cyclone Sidr response signifies a holistic USG effort, this cable summarizes USAID/OFDA's activities in Bangladesh to date and highlights ongoing priorities as programs transition from relief to early recovery. End summary. -------------- INTRODUCTION -------------- ¶2. This report is submitted upon the demobilization of the USAID/DART and subsequent USAID/OFDA focus to assist with early recovery activities. Although this cable concentrates on the activities of the USAID/DART during the humanitarian response period, it is important to note that the Cyclone Sidr response was a collaborative interagency USG effort among the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, USAID/Bangladesh, and the U.S. military. Indeed, the USG's effective and well-coordinated efforts from the first hours after the cyclone were critical to making the response a success. ¶3. USAID/OFDA recognizes that humanitarian indicators in Bangladesh require continued monitoring and possibly additional support to smooth the transition from relief to recovery. For this reason, USAID/OFDA will maintain a presence in Bangladesh for the immediate future to follow up on the interagency humanitarian response, including monitoring USAID/OFDA-funded relief, transition, and disaster preparedness programs. USAID/OFDA is working closely with USAID/Bangladesh to ensure a seamless transition of operations from relief to early recovery. -------------- BACKGROUND -------------- ¶4. On November 15, 2007, Tropical Cyclone Sidr made landfall in southern Bangladesh with winds of 155 miles per hour. As of December 10, the impact of the cyclone had affected more than 8.9 million people, including 3,347 deaths, 871 missing, and more than 1.5 million damaged homes, according to the GOB's Disaster Management Bureau. Residents of Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Barguna, and Patuakhali districts suffered most of these casualties and damage to homes, livestock, crops, and roads. On November 16, U.S. Charg d'Affaires, a.i. Geeta Pasi declared a disaster due to the effects of the cyclone. In response, USAID/OFDA has provided more than $4.5 million in assistance to date, and USAID's Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) has provided $15 million of P.L 480 Title II in emergency food assistance. DHAKA 00001925 002 OF 006 -------------- DEPLOYMENT OF USAID/DART -------------- ¶5. On November 17, within 48 hours of the cyclone, staff associated with USAID/DART began arriving in Bangladesh. The mission of the USAID/DART was to assess humanitarian needs on the ground, provide technical assistance, coordinate response mechanisms in conjunction with the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, USAID/Bangladesh, and the U.S. military, and provide resources for quick impact relief activities. At its peak, the USAID/DART numbered 10 members, including program officers, sector specialists, an information officer, administrative officer, military liaison officer, and a communications specialist. -------------- COORDINATION WITH U.S. MILITARY -------------- ¶6. USAID/OFDA provided $250,000 to the U.S. Department of Defense for the transportation of emergency relief supplies. Given the significant U.S. military role in the disaster response, coordination between civilian and military USG agencies was essential, in order to leverage available resources effectively. For example, the U.S. military provided tremendous logistical capacity, including helicopter lift that made quick access to remote areas possible, while the USAID/DART supplied the technical expertise required to assess needs once those remote areas were reached. As such, the U.S. military was instrumental in transporting USAID/DART personnel into cyclone-affected areas to conduct humanitarian assessments. During the Cyclone Sidr response, this interaction and cooperation between the USAID/DART and the U.S. military exemplifies how USG agencies can complement each other's strengths to focus on a shared goal. ¶7. As humanitarian indicators have improved and interventions have now shifted from addressing acute needs to recovery, unique U.S. military assets are no longer required. On December 6, the final Marine Corps helicopter carried humanitarian cargo from Barisal to several remaining affected areas, as well as the last Air Force fixed wing flights from Dhaka to Barisal. In total, U.S. C-130s moved more than 327 metric tons (MT) of relief commodities from Dhaka to Barisal before operations ended on December 6. U.S. helicopters flew 118 cumulative sorties from Barisal to various affected sites, transporting a total of 115 MT of goods and over 54,000 liters of water. In addition to logistical support, U.S. military medical teams worked closely with Bangladeshi counterparts, both military and civilian, to provide direct patient care in affected areas. The U.S. army team was based at the Patuakhali hospital, while smaller navy mobile medical teams moved throughout cyclone-affected regions, treating more than 4,000 human patients and 500 livestock in total. -------------- COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES -------------- ¶8. To date, international donors have pledged more than $143 million towards relief and recovery activities in Bangladesh, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. To coordinate with other donors, GOB ministries, and aid agencies responding to the cyclone, the USAID/DART and USAID/Bangladesh have DHAKA 00001925 003 OF 006 attended regular U.N. cluster meetings in Dhaka. During these meetings, partners have discussed humanitarian priorities, engaged with GOB officials, coordinated response mechanisms, and shared information on relief activities and field assessments. The clusters responding to Cyclone Sidr include early recovery, food, emergency shelter, health, logistics, information management and coordination, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). As the response has now shifted from emergency operations to early recovery, USG representatives will continue to attend cluster meetings in the coming days. -------------- -------------- USAID/OFDA AND USAID/FFP ASSISTANCE TO BANGLADESH -------------- -------------- ¶9. To date, USAID has provided more than $19.5 million in humanitarian assistance to cyclone-affected communities in Bangladesh. USAID identified food, emergency relief supplies, shelter, and WASH support as priority sectors for relief operations. ¶10. Within 24 hours of the cyclone, USAID/OFDA was coordinating the shipment of relief commodities from USAID/OFDA's warehouse in Dubai. USAID/OFDA has provided nearly $735,000 in emergency relief commodities, including transport costs, for cyclone-affected populations in Bangladesh. USAID/OFDA has completed two flights of emergency relief commodities, delivering a total of 15,000 blankets, 2,500 hygiene kits, 300 rolls of plastic sheeting, and 4,900 water containers. Supplementing six water purification units, which were already in country prior to the storm as part of ongoing preparedness programs, USAID/OFDA provided eight additional units and four 10,000 liter water bladders for the cyclone response, improving access to clean water for approximately 80,000 people. ¶11. The USAID/DART identified shelter as ONE of the priority sectors for assistance immediately following Cyclone Sidr. The rapid initial U.N. emergency assessment team estimated 1.4 million damaged houses in the cyclone-affected area. In response to the cyclone, USAID/OFDA provided nearly $1.4 million in assistance to the American Red Cross and NGO partners Save the Children and World Vision for programs that included transitional shelter assistance for more than 6,100 families. In addition, the USAID/DART Shelter and Livelihoods Advisor worked closely with the U.N. shelter cluster to help design a low cost shelter design that can be used to standardize shelter assistance across the region in the early recovery period. This design will be used as a shelter template to calculate costs, resource requests, and provide consistent levels of shelter assistance in the affected area. USAID/OFDA anticipates that final shelter recommendations from the shelter cluster will be available in late December. ¶12. In the WASH sector, USAID/OFDA has provided more than $1.8 million to support programs ensuring that households re-establish access to safe drinking water supplies and sanitation facilities and adopt safe hygiene behaviors. Despite initial concerns, the impact of Cyclone Sidr has not resulted in water-borne disease outbreaks, largely attributed to robust and coordinated efforts led by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the GOB's Department of Public HEALTH Engineering, pre-positioned WASH supplies to help reduce risks and save lives, and sufficient WASH infrastructure that survived the storm. As the response has now transitioned from the acute DHAKA 00001925 004 OF 006 emergency phase into early recovery, and initial stocks of water purification tablets begin to deplete, the USAID/DART WASH Advisor recommends attention and vigilant surveillance of water-borne diseases. Continued WASH assistance includes the rehabilitation of tube wells and pond sand filtration systems, as well as cleansing of open source ponds used for drinking water. USAID/OFDA awarded $700,000 to UNICEF for WASH activities, including the rehabilitation of tube wells and the purchase of water purification tablets. ¶13. In livelihoods, USAID/DART field assessments identified farmers and fishermen as being particularly hard hit by Cyclone Sidr. Interruption to these livelihoods causes a ripple effect through secondary livelihoods (day laborers) built around fishing and farming. The USAID/DART Livelihoods Advisor recommends that livelihoods assistance focuses on restoring productive assets to farmers and fishermen in effort to get livelihoods back online. Activities could include the distribution of agriculture inputs (e.g., seeds, tools, and fertilizer) or support to fishermen to help them repair boats and nets. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is currently distributing emergency seeds and agricultural inputs to support families in livelihood rehabilitation. USAID/Bangladesh's recovery program is also including assistance to farmers and fishermen whose livelihoods were disrupted by the cyclone. ¶14. In field assessments conducted by the USAID/DART Livelihoods Advisor, the need for cash was consistently identified as critically important for early recovery. To increase the purchasing power of affected families, the USAID/DART advisor recommends cash distributions, provided by the GOB and possibly by the World Bank, as well as income-generating activities. With access to cash, families can begin their recovery process by acquiring the assets needed to restore their livelihoods, rebuild shelters, and replace lost household items. The GOB is currently distributing cash of up to $147 per family to compensate for losses related to the cyclone. USAID/OFDA-funded cash-for-work programs implemented by World Vision and Save the Children will also address the priority need for cash interventions in early recovery activities. ¶15. Responding to the immediate food needs of cyclone-affected populations, USAID/FFP allocated $15 million of P.L. 480 Title II emergency food assistance. Initially, aid agencies and affected residents had identified food as the most critical humanitarian need. At this time, the U.N. food cluster, chaired by the U.N. World Food Program (WFP),as well as the USAID/DART and NGOs operating on the field all report that immediate food security needs are being met. At present, the GOB and aid agencies are reporting no instances of severe malnutrition or other problems to indicate a lack of sufficient food intake. The USAID/DART FFP Officer recommends that food aid partners now focus on ensuring that no pocketed areas remain unserved and that systems are in place to maintain distribution targets. The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka is also considering the GOB's request for 500,000 MT of food aid to help meet needs until the May 2008 harvest. ¶16. To ensure adequate distribution coverage and the maintenance of both food security and nutritional status, the USAID/DART FFP Officer also highlights the importance of continued assessment and monitoring throughout affected areas. As response initiatives have now shifted from the acute humanitarian phase to early recovery, livelihoods activities, including food-for-work and field DHAKA 00001925 005 OF 006 rehabilitation, should be poised to replace blanket food distributions in meeting the medium and long-term food needs of affected populations. -------------- USAID'S TRANSITION STRATEGY -------------- ¶17. Needs assessments conducted by the USAID/DART, U.N., and the GOB indicate that several response benchmarks (e.g., no reported unserved areas, water-borne disease prevalence is not significantly higher than baseline rates, and Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates do not exceed the emergency threshold) have been met through international and GOB relief interventions. These indicators signify that the acute emergency phase has largely ended. USAID/OFDA awarded $2.4 million immediately following the cyclone to several organizations to address immediate humanitarian needs. The end of the acute humanitarian phase also aligns with the December 6 withdrawal of U.S. military humanitarian support to cyclone-affected areas. ¶18. U.N. Clusters, GOB, and OFDA/DART assessments have identified support for early recovery activities as the priority at this phase in the response. Key sectors include WASH, livelihoods, shelter, and food security. USAID/OFDA recently awarded $2.1 million to partners World Vision, Save the Children, and UNICEF to initiate early recovery interventions. In addition, USAID/FFP contributed $15 million to partners CARE, Save the Children, and WFP for early recovery activities. Drawing on information from USAID/DART assessments, USAID/Bangladesh has submitted a multiyear relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction proposal to plan for subsequent phases of the cyclone response. Spanning approximately two to eight months after the cyclone, the recovery phase will focus on the restoration of livelihoods and disaster mitigation activities. -------------- NEXT STEPS -------------- ¶19. On December 11, the USAID/DART will demobilize and USAID/OFDA personnel will then focus on early recovery support. In recognizing no lingering humanitarian gaps, the USAID/DART will modify existing staffing levels to better reflect evolving needs and the situation on the ground. As the relief phase transitions into early recovery, USAID/OFDA presence in Bangladesh will necessarily change in composition and structure since different skill-sets are required to better address the changing needs of affected populations. USAID/OFDA's Regional Advisor will lead an QEarly Recovery Team with support from USAID/OFDA staff with specific recovery skills that can assist during the medium-term. -------------- APPRECIATION -------------- ¶20. The USAID/DART wishes to express the deepest appreciation for the exceptional support received from the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, USAID/Bangladesh, and the U.S. military. Despite various humanitarian challenges, the interagency USG response in Bangladesh was robust, well-coordinated, and has provided life-saving relief to victims of Cyclone Sidr. DHAKA 00001925 006 OF 006 PASI