Mali ranks third to last on the 2006 UNDP Human Development Index 69% of the population is estimated to live below the poverty line, with poverty concentrated mainly in rural areas and affecting mostly women Torrential rain fall in July, August and September 2007 have caused nine deaths and made 42,662 homeless; 4.575 displaced; 4,829 houses collapsed and 3,778 hectares of cropped farmed flooded.

«CERF Around the World

CERF allocates $1 million to the flood response in Mali

Governments and the aid community are mounting a response to flooding that has affected over half a million people in West Africa. [Photo: UNMIL/Wleh]

28 September 2007: Floods have affected over 800,000 people in 13 countries in West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, The Gambia, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Sierra Leone, Benin and Ghana).

During the months of July, August and September, populations in vulnerable parts of the Republic of Mali were subject to severe floods caused by the late arrival of the rains which resulted in damaging farmlands and property. 

The torrential rains have caused nine deaths and made 41,586 homeless, according to authorities. In the communiqué published on 22 September, they also stated that 17 people were injured, 4,829 houses collapsed and 3,778 hectares of cropped farmed flooded.

As the rainy season in Mali has commenced, unforeseen quantities of heavy rainfall have come down in the villages that surround the urban centers of Bandiagara (Mopti region), Kayes (Kayes region), and Bla, Niono and San (Ségou region).  

As of mid August 2007, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), UNFPA and UNICEF have jointly responded to the crises under OCHA’s coordination by providing food, Non-Food Items (NFIs) to the approximately 15,500 victims who have lost their homes, plantations, and food reserves.  Additional natural disasters are also reported from Kayes region.  Therefore, WFP and UNICEF have estimated an additional 4,500 individuals as flood victims who are in need and require immediate assistance in the region of Kayes. The main areas of agricultural production in Mali are located in the central regions of the country like Mopti and Ségou.  Kayes, located in the west, is also a region where rural populations rely on a significant agricultural yield of cotton and peanuts as a means to earn income. 

Mali on average has been experiencing lower levels of agricultural production as a direct result of diminishing rain fall levels each year.  Ironically, rural villages in Mopti, Kayes, and Ségou regions have been inundated with heavy rainfall thus causing floods and leaving people homeless. 

With the vast damage to crops and therefore no future sources of revenue, the potential risks that the floods now pose to families and individuals are: Food insecurity (poor or no access to food, safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities); exposure to sickness such as cholera epidemic outbreak and other diarrhea diseases and malnutrition for adults and children alike; Inability to erect new homes and prompting the possible displacement of individuals and families; and inability to purchase appropriate clothing and other household amenities.

It is important to mention that severe acute malnutrition rates were already high in some areas of Mali before the floods commenced: Mopti (2.2%), Kayes (2.0%), and Segou (2.4%). Source: Demographic and Health Survey, 2006. A further case for UN response is the alarming population statistics in Mali.  In 2005, approximately 49 % of the country’s population was estimated to be under the age of 15.  It would be thus reasonable to assume that 9,800 individuals from the expected 20,000 victims might be under the age of 15.  Of that group, 30% would be under the age of 5 –- an equivalent of 2,940 children –- most at-risk and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance during this emergency operation.  Both agencies also estimate the number of female beneficiaries to be at 10,000. It has been also reported that in the villages of Diouna, 50 latrines, 5 broken water hand pumps and 7 wells collapsed.  It was similar in Sie in Segou circle, where 177 household houses and latrines collapsed in Niono and more than 1,300 in the Bla area.
 
WFP and UNICEF’s grants of $ 1,017,103 will provide urgent and life-saving flood assistance. The operation will allow WFP and UNICEF to assist approximately 20,000 vulnerable individuals for three months through the following comprehensive interventions:

• Nutritional support for adults and children, especially under 5. Through local distribution centers, general food distributions will be implemented in coordination with the Civil Protection Administration and UNICEF.   It is estimated that 20,000 individuals would receive supplementary food rations during 3 months.
• UNICEF will distribute tents, mosquito nets, soap, bleach, household water containers and water purification tablets and will rehabilitate broken or collapsed water sources. This assistance, along with hygiene promotion activities, would prevent epidemic outbreaks and improve the living conditions of those affected.  20,000 individuals will benefit of this component.
• The activities will be implemented in the peri-urban areas of Bandiagara, Kayes, and Ségou.  Locally based committees, organized by the Civil Protection Administration and accountable to the Governors, will be responsible for food and NFIs storage and their handling. 
• The overall objective is to provide 90 days worth of humanitarian assistance to the existing 15,500 flood victims and an anticipated 4,500 more victims, a total of 20,000 individuals over the course of the rainy season.
• A stock of a value of of $504,155 is expected in Mali from Brindisi.

At the end of the operation, it is expected that:

• 1,500 individuals residing in rural areas of Bandiagara, Mopti in particular, will be targeted (8% of the total population targeted under this proposal) and will have improved food security through access to food, while other UN agencies provide improved water sources and appropriate shelter;
• 4,500 individuals residing in rural areas from Kayes would be assisted (22% of the total population targeted under this proposal) and will have improved food security through access to food, while other UN agencies provide improved water sources and appropriate shelter;
• 14,000 individuals residing in rural areas in Bla, Niono and San, all in the Ségou region, would also be assisted (70% of the total population targeted under this proposal) and will have improved food security, while other UN agencies provide improved water sources and appropriate shelter;
• Children and women of 2,860 households will be protected against malaria and 3,600 children under five years will be protected against malnutrition.

[Last Update: 28 September 2007]

«CERF Around the World

CERF in Mali 2008

CERF in Mali 2006 

Press release on CERF grants to Ghana, Togo, and Mali (9 October 2007). Click here for French

Situation map of the floods in West Africa (4 October 2007)