NIMROZ FLOODS RESPONSE
CONCEPT NOTE
June 2017
Project summary
RI proposes to target 60 villages, heavily impacted by the floods in Chakhansoor District, Nimroz
province with first line WASH assistance. RI proposes to rebuild 99 water sources and repair 59
water sources to provide 15,942 individuals with clean, drinking water.
The approach is based on consultations with technical experts, communities and Community
Development Councils (CDCs), and on a rapid WASH assessment conducted during the
emergency response and followed up in the successive months.
RI will engage the communities in rebuilding and repairing the wells destroyed or heavily
damaged by the floods. Communities, coordinated through the CDCs, will provide the needed
support, including man power as appropriate for the reconstruction and repair. RI will provide
the technical expertise, tools, materials and logistics for the works.
The main outcome of this project is the preservation of the communities’ health and wellbeing
through access to reliable sources of clean water for drinking and domestic use. The main output
is the provision of more resilient infrastructures, rebuilt or repaired taking into consideration
build back better and disaster risk reduction (DRR) approaches.
Immediate outputs are:
59 wells rehabilitated
99 wells rebuilt
Protection walls built (as appropriate depending on geographic configuration).
Proposed start date: 1 August 2017
Proposed end date: 31 December 2017
Proposed project duration: 5 months
Humanitarian context analysis: Floods and assistance to date
On 23 February 2017, RI was alerted of severe flooding in Khashrood and Chakhansoor Districts
of Nimroz province. This first wave of floods approximately affected 459 HHs in the two districts:
200 ca in Khashrood and 259 in Chakhansoor.
Villages were surrounded by water and a proportion of shelters destroyed or heavily damaged.
Assets and items were lost to the water; the communities, situated in hard to reach areas, were
completely cut out from markets. Access to clean water was entirely hindered due to
contamination of water sources, mostly open wells (please see Rapid Emergency Assessment
report attached). Water from any water source in any village appeared from muddy to turbid,
putting 100% of community members at risk.
As of 1 March 2017, ARC, IOM, ANDMA and the Provincial Government had provided food,
blankets, and plastic tents. WASH need of the communities were covered by ARC in Khashrood
only. Communities in Chakhansoor were in dire need of an emergency WASH intervention and
only reachable by boat. RI intervened with life-saving response in the immediate aftermath of
the shock providing emergency WASH assistance.
On the second week of March heavy rains resumed causing increasing water levels and ultimately
a second wave of floods: floods impacted the 11 villages previously affected and 49 additional
villages. A total of 2,398 HHs were newly affected and in need of assistance. Again, water sources
were destroyed or contaminated and water was not safe to drink; HHs lacked the basic items to
treat water and preserve their health. The villages, isolates from the markets, had little resources
to cope with the disaster.
During the inter-agency coordination meeting following the second shock, WFP committed to
respond to the food needs of the affected population, whilst MRRD and IOM jointly committed
to address shelter needs of those whose house had been destroyed, by providing emergency
shelter. Two joint assessment have been conducted, one after each wave: the first one followed
RI assessment and was let by the Government; the other followed the second floods and was led
by OCHA. WASH needs were again covered by RI, this time in collaboration with UNICEF and the
WASH Cluster.
RI provided HHs with water treatment for one month. The raining season ended with May and
over the months the situation has improved with water retreating to normal levels. As the water
retreated, it was hard for communities to access any water at all, since wells are obstructed by
mud and debris. Communities, the first responders in any disaster, are starting to move towards
post-emergency and early recovery, received support from RI, who distributed tools to empty
the wells and removing debris. They now need urgent support to get back on their own feet and
restore safe sources of drinking water.
Broad description of needs
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Reconstruction, rehabilitation and strengthening of water sources.
The main sources of water in Chakhansoor District are unprotected open wells, followed by
wells with hand pump and unprotected spring. Direct observation and data collected suggests
that 63% of wells have been destroyed and 37% damaged; at the time of writing, RI is
completing distribution of WASH items and conducted a rapid emergency assessment of
water sources.
Shelter repair and reconstruction.
During the first wave of floods, 260 HHs experienced some level of structural damage to their
shelter. The second wave of floods completely destroyed 192 houses leaving families
displaced to nearby villages or living in the open. Response by MRRD and IOM provided those
living in the open with emergency shelter. Long term solutions are needed to allow those
most impacted by the floods to repair or rebuild their shelter and return to live in safety and
dignity.
Rehabilitation of infrastructures.
Affected villages are located in the northern, rural part of Nimroz and the majority are in
remote areas. Floods have isolated 60 villages and made access to market impossible. This
influenced the modalities of intervention so far, and will keep having an impact on the
response. In order to facilitate recovery and reinstate the ability of the affected population
to cope, roads are the main infrastructure that needs rehabilitation. Roads will enable influx
of basic items as well as material needed for the reconstruction phase, including
rehabilitation and reconstruction of water sources. They will also significantly reduce the time
needed for reaching the communities and gradually increasing access to markets.
Communities and RI advocated with the Government for timely rehabilitation of roads. At the
time of writing, road clearance works have been ultimate and the infrastructural
reconstruction has started.
Grant Request Justification
During the emergency phase, RI provided 11 communities with WASH cluster approved complete
hygiene kits. To the hygiene kits RI added chlorine for water treatment and diseases prevention,
and ORS (Oral Rehydration Sachets) as life-saving intervention for people, especially the most
vulnerable, who could have contracted diarrhoea in the aftermath of the floods, due to poor
quality of water.
After the second wave of floods which occurred only a few weeks after the first, RI used the funds
available to leverage a response to scale, lobbying other actors such as UNICEF, the WASH Cluster
and its partners; through a close collaboration with the WASH Cluster RI was able to reach 2,398
newly affected HHs (100% of caseload) with hygiene kits and life-saving water treatment items
in under two weeks.
In addition, through the CDCs, RI provided the affected communities with a few critical tools to
clean the wells and access water, which otherwise would have been unreachable. Tool kits are
going to be shared among HHs and used collectively to clean the water sources from mud and
debris. This will allow communities to access water as the flood water retreat, in the short term.
Although critical for the immediate post-emergency phase, the tool kits provided cannot serve
the following purposes:
a. Rehabilitating water sources;
b. Reconstructing (building back better) wells which were swept away;
c. Strengthening water sources reducing disaster risk.
WASH intervention is critical and urgent. A failure to address these needs will result in a
deterioration of the current situation into acute emergency once more. Main risks range from
lack of sufficient water to sustain life to possible outbreaks due to unsafe water sources and poor
quality of water.
Therefore, RI proposes an intervention at scale to rehabilitate, rebuild and reinforce existing
water sources, to provide a reliable sources of fresh water to the communities affected by floods.
Description of beneficiaries
The 60 villages heavily impacted by the floods will be the direct beneficiaries of this project. There
include 2,657 HHs, or 15,942 individuals. The majority of the beneficiaries are members of the
host community; a minority of the population can include IDPs and possibly returnees and
deportees.
The table below offers a breakdown of beneficiaries along sex and age lines:
Children
Adults
Elderly
F
2969
3906
937
M
3089
4065
976
The project will be delivered through a whole-of-community approach and with the participation
of the beneficiaries to the works. The CDCs will have a central role in coordinating the efforts on
the ground and provide logistical support. This will in turn strengthen the role of CDCs, indirectly
reinforcing governance at the local level. Communities will also benefit from training in
construction techniques.
In addition to the communities and single beneficiaries, this project will also have a positive
impact on the local market, where most of the materials and services will be procured.