Given the difficulties of accessing to the affected area, the damage estimates are still preliminary. SINAPRED’s update as of September 12 increases the estimate of disaster victims to 162,373, with 67 confirmed fatalities and 110 persons missing.
On September 4, the President of the Republic issued Decree No. 87-2007 declaring a State of Emergency in the RAAN.
During the first weeks, the priority will be given to life-saving and life-sustaining activities to support 162,373 affected people in terms of basic needs: food assistance, emergency logistics, shelter, health, water and sanitation.
$1,791,180 from the CERF will allow UNDP to provide shelter solutions for 42,000 people in the most affected areas (Municipality of Puerto Cabezas, Sandy Bay and Tasba-Pri) by providing tools to remove rubble and necessary building materials as well as providing families with kits to ease daily life with folding beds, hammocks, cooking sets, latrines, showers, folding beds, hammocks, cooking sets, latrines.
WFP’s grant of $2,169,318 will ensure immediate food assistance to prevent any deterioration of the nutritional status of the affected population. A General Food Distribution will be undertaken in the first 90 days for 80,000 individual. WFP will also provide a Supplemental Feeding component for 35,000 beneficiaries. Special attention will be provided to vulnerable groups consisting of children under five and pregnant and lactating mothers to prevent malnutrition.
WHO will, with the CERF grant of $517,452, ensure health care and disease prevention with a special focus on Maternal & Child Health
UNICEF’s grants totaling $497,550 will target health services, child nutrition as well as water, sanitation and hygiene needs.
UNICEF will, together with PAHO, increase access to health service through the mobilization of Ministry of Health medical brigades. Mobile Medical Brigades forms part of a strategy to increase access to health services for the most distant and needy populations, to respond to large, complex problems. The brigades carry out actions to promote health and increase the coverage and quality of care, prioritizing women and children through a gender approach. They also promote social participation in health actions. UNICEF will provide basic equipment to transport the teams (boats, vehicles, motorcycles, horses, fuel) and protective gear for team members (backpacks, raincoats, life jackets, flashlights, etc.).
UNICEF will activate a nutritional strategy to mitigate the impact of hurricane Felix in child nutrition (in children from 6 to 24 months of age) by purchasing complementary food, nutritional kits, vitamin A supplements and train health personnel and community persons for the distribution of the nutritional kits and the implementation of the educational strategy
In collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, UNICEF will also respond to water, sanitation and hygiene needs in communities and schools in order to improve the health status of the 7,200 affected individuals through the provision of safe water, basic sanitation and promotion of hygiene in critical areas of the Municipalities of Puerto Cabezas and Waspam. UNICEF will provide safe water to 3,000 people through the rehabilitation of water infrastructure, provide 500 families (nearly 3,000 people) with water filters, and provide 200 families (nearly 1,200 people) with emergency rain-water collection items. Further UNICEF will rehabilitate 200 latrines in shelters and schools and provide 1,000 hygiene kits to families, schools and health centers.
[Last Update: 27 September 2007]
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