Phailin Emergency Update - July 2014

BAY OF BENGAL

ODISHA

PHAILIN AND THE AFTERMATH: Tropical Cyclone Phailin (level 4) hit the heavily populated Odisha coast on the night of October 12, 2013, with wind speeds of 200-210 km per hour. There was a storm surge of up to three metres in height. The worst hit districts were Ganjam, Puri, Khorda, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Balasore, Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur. Heavy rains brought by the Cyclone led to flooding, causing a second crisis in these areas; the worst affected being Balasore and Kendrapara districts. Advance warning by government was made between 9-11th October and mass evacuation (India’s biggest evacuation in 23 years) of almost 900,000 people in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh was achieved. This along with good coordination between government, NGOs and civil societies saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

According to government, the total death toll from the cyclone or flooding in Odisha was 36. As much as 90% of the population had returned back to their villages within six days of the cyclone landing. The official number of affected people was given as 10 million.

The number of people estimated to need humanitarian assistance, as found by the NGO community’s assessments was smaller than the government figure of 10 million people. It was estimated that over 1.2 million people would need immediate assistance.

Following rapid assessment and inter-agency coordination, Oxfam proposed to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to Phailin affected people in Puri, Ganjam and Balasore districts through provision of food aid, water and sanitation facilities, public health services, and temporary shelter materials.

Get the latest on Oxfam’s response at www.oxfamindia.org

EMERGENCY RESPONSE UPDATE

AN OXFAM OVERVIEW: JULY 2014Cyclonic Phailin is the second-strongest tropical cyclone ever to hit India, the first being the 1999 Odisha cyclone. One of the worst cyclones to hit the east coast of Odisha in 10 years on October 12, 2013, Phailin affected over eight million people.

Washed away by floods, a woman is standing next to her destroyed house three days after the Cyclone Phailin hit her village in Puri District.

Under Cash for Work programme, Oxfam assisted the most vulnerable families in Puri to create early recovery livelihood opportunities for them.



SINCE OUR RESPONSE BEGAN: Oxfam Humanitarian Response has reached to more than 92,000 affected people on the ground and the rehabilitation and recovery work continues.

WHEN THE RESPONSE STARTED: Oxfam India and partners started the response on October 14, 2013 implementing Emergency Food Security and Vulnerable Livelihood (EFSVL), Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and emergency shelter in three affected districts of Puri, Ganjam and Balasore targeting more than 92,000 people. An initial dry food distribution was also done in Jagram district. In the first week, 32,434 displaced persons were served with cooked food.

Work continues in Puri and Ganjam district in a total of 27 villages with a population of 43,000 focusing mostly on recovery interventions.

WHERE WE ARE WORKING: PURIDuring the initial phase of the response under Emergency Food Security programme, Oxfam focused on providing food to the affected population. Oxfam and partners targeted people with the least resources to cope with the situation after the disaster. Oxfam distributed ration and supplementary food for first 30 days to meet immediate basic food requirements of the affected population. Oxfam provided food to more than 17,000 people in Puri for 30 days and 26,750 people received emergency shelter. Oxfam also distributed hygiene kits to around 27,000 people. The response took in consideration the gender and disability, and priority was given to these marginalised groups.

The early recovery intervention started in mid November 2013, addressing early recovery livelihood, WASH and transitional shelter in the worst affected communities

CREATING LIVELIHOOD

Under Emergency Food Security and Liveli-hood (EFSVL), the assistance was provided through Un- Conditional Cash Transfer and Cash for Work programmes to most vulnerable families. In Puri, more than 650 families were covered under these programmes. Addition-ally, providing seed support to over 350 farmer families and fishing equipment (drying and storage) assistance to 20 fisherwomen groups in the district.

PROVIDING SHELTER

Besides building 17 transitional shelters in Puri, Oxfam trained local masons using cyclone and flood resilient construction techniques in shelter repair and construction. Oxfam also helped more than 400 households to repair their shelter incorporating appropriate disaster resilient and inclusive features suitable to local conditions. More than 4400 solar lights were distributed as part of emergency shelter kits, which also included tarpaulin and ground sheet, and blankets.

PURI

BAY OF BENGAL



WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH): KEY ACHIEVEMENT

27 new hand pumps installed

47 water sources rehabilitated

63 water sources chlorinated

54 water sources tested for arsenic, fluoride and bacteria

48 latrines constructed

Seven bathing units built

20 Public Health Engineering (PHE) tool kits distributed

24 Public Health Promotion (PHP) events conducted in schools

Eight PHP mass campaign rallies

Over 2900 people covered under door to door PHP campaign.

One multi-purpose pond built in Puri

48 mass campaign (PHP) mothers group meetings conducted

Water filters helped to avoid any major disease outbreak in relief camps. WASH support ensured access to safe water and good hygiene practise.

For Chandini Nayak, solar light that her family received from Oxfam was a big help. She could continue her studies despite the hard conditions.

IMPACT IN OUR LITTLE WAYChandini Nayak is in 5th grade and wants to become a police-woman when she grows up. She is aware that it will be a long journey but what makes her happy is that she saved her books when her family had to evacuate during Cyclone Phailin.

Coming home was as difficult as leaving. Chandini’s home was washed away. Oxfam arrived just days after the cyclone hit her village, supplying emergency food rations and essential non-food items like blankets, tarpaulins, groundsheets buckets, water purification tablets and solar lamps. For little Chandini, solar lamp made a big difference.

“Solar lamp was really helpful, especially when there was no electricity and I could still study.”

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GANJAM

BAY OF BENGAL

WHERE WE ARE WORKING: GANJAMIn the beginning of the response, Oxfam provided emergency food to the affected population in Ganjam. Under the Emergency Food Security programme, Oxfam and partners distributed ration and supplementary food to more than 6500 people for 30 days and 21,500 people received emergency shelter. Oxfam distributed hygiene kits to more than 21,000 people and over 3500 solar lamps. To ensure gender equality, women’s active participation was ensured at each level of the distribution process. Women were encouraged to actively participate in public health and WASH response plans.

CREATING LIVELIHOODThe early recovering intervention, which started a month after the cyclone, was aimed at creating income sources for the affected population. Under EFSVL programme the assistance was provided in form of Un- Conditional Cash Transfer and Cash for Work programmes to most vulnerable families. In Ganjam district, more than 650 families were covered under Cash for Work and Un-Conditional cash Transfer Programme. More than 250 farmers received farming support which included paddy and vegetable seeds, and were also trained in resilient farming techniques. Ten fishing groups received fishing equipment support, which included drying and storage facility from Oxfam.



WASH: KEY ACHIEVEMENTS19 new hand pumps installed

35 water sources rehabilitated

78 water sources chlorinated

61 water sources tested for arsenic, fluoride and bacteria

50 latrines constructed

11 bathing units built

13 Public Health Engineering (PHE) tool kits distributed

25 Public Health Promotion (PHP) events conducted in schools

12 PHP mass campaigns

Over 2200 people covered under door to door PHP campaign.

One multi-purpose pond built in Ganjam

43 mass campaign (PHP) mothers group meetings conducted

In Ganjam, more than 250 families received farming support which included paddy and vegetable seeds besides training in resilient farming techniques.

GANJAM

BAY OF BENGAL

Ranjani, who worked under the Cash for Work programme in Ganjam district, was involved in constructing a channel that is being used for irrigation in her village.



IMPACTThe winds on October 12, 2013 were different from those on any other day. Phailin was knocking on her door. What was to follow would be one of the worst cyclones Ranjani had seen in her lifetime.

“It was around 9am in the morning when the wind picked up speed. It suddenly became cold. Wind and rain seemed to come from all directions. The (wind) force was so much that we couldn’t cross the main road,” Ranjani recalls.

She and her family took shelter in a nearby school, which was overcrowded. Cramped with 400 people, the water level was

PROVIDING SHELTERDuring the initial phase of response, more than 3500 emergency shelter kits were distributed to affected population in Ganjam district. The emergency kits included ground and tarpaulin sheets, blankets and solar lamps. Under the early recovery intervention, local masons and carpenters were trained to use cyclone and flood resilient construction techniques in shelter repair and construction.



A woman on her way to home carrying the food items distributed by Oxfam during the initial days of response in Balasore district.

rising to knee-level. The rain continued, and water channelled down the nearby hills into the village blocking all the roads. It wasn’t until around 4am next morning that the winds began to die down and the floodwaters began to recede.

Ranjani and her family stayed at the school for four days. As the building was completely cut-off the people staying in it were venturing into open spaces to defecate, thus affecting personal hygiene and that of the whole group. The hand-pump at the school had escaped contamination and the meagre supplies they had would be shared equally, as with any medicines that people had or needed.

On their return, the villagers were faced with a scene of devasta-tion; collapsed homes inundated by silt, water and debris.

“We were mentally and physically exhausted with shock; as a result many of us fell sick with fever”

Oxfam and its local partner supplied food, tarpaulins and groundsheets, blankets, soaps, buckets and tablets to purify water. The harsh weather persisted in the area; the rain contin-ued, causing a secondary impact on those who had lost so much already. At a time when they were just beginning to cope with the initial event, the secondary floods washed away any relief material that the locals had received.

Oxfam was proactive in the area from day one by providing support and relief material to locals as part our hygiene promo-tion campaign.

Under the “Cash for Work” programme, Oxfam gave employment to many affected people. The locals were given up to 50 days of work at Rs150 per day. The concept behind the programme is that the project should benefit the whole community.

“We are building this channel that will mostly be used for irrigation and to feed the cattle, but most importantly if we experience flooding of this level again the water should channel away from the village and our homes.”

The money Ranjini makes not only keeps the household running but she also manages to use it for the education of her children.

“Yes, we lost the house and it was very upsetting but at least we are alive, safe and well. And Oxfam has helped us to rebuild our lives.”

WHERE WE WORKED: BALASORE Under the Emergency Food Security Programme, Oxfam provided ration and supplementary food to 2700 people in additional to distributing cooked food to over 32,000 affected people. Around 14,000 people received emergency shelter and hygiene kits.

MAKING THE RESPONSE PROGRAmMe INCLUSIVE DISABILITY

In the guiding principles of project selection, persons with disabilities were prioritised. Disability inclusion was considered in the construction of latrines and bathing units.

In the Cash for Work intervention, people with disabilities were engaged based on their capacity. They undertook roles such as management of crèche facilities at Cash for Work sites. Persons with disabilities were also identified under Unconditional Cash Transfer programme.

MONITORING AND EVAULATION-ENSURING OUR PROGRAMMES ARE EFFECTIVEThis Real Time Evaluation (RTE) was introduced to monitor the implementa-tion of Oxfam’s Cyclone Phailin Response Programme to date, to gauge effective-ness, provide quick feedback and identify systemic issues. Oxfam's two significant assets in the Cyclone Phailin response were the speed of its response compared and the strength of relation-ships it has with its target communities. The quality of WASH hardware installa-tion, Cash for Work implementation, public hygiene promotion and partner relationships came out as examples of good practice in the response.



GENDERTo ensure gender equality, women’s active participation was ensured at each level of the planning and distribution process. Women were encouraged to take leadership and management roles especially in public health and WASH work.

A conscious effort was made to target women as beneficiaries in EFSVL and WASH activities. Women also helped to plan the Cash Transfer programmes. In the guiding principles for project selection, pregnant and lactating women, single, windowed and women heading a household were given priority.

Oxfam targeted women beneficiaries for EFSVL and WASH programmes. They were actively engaged in distribution process in every operational district.

Fisherwomen receiving hygienic dry-fish processing and wet fish storing and vending equipment from Oxfam. They also received technical training to use the equipment.



Challenges The initial relief phase of the programme was complex to deliver considering the capacity of the team at the time. The consultants and the staff had difficulty in understanding the critical requirement of humanitarian response. However, orientation on programme and interventions and training on gender, disability, public health promotion, EFSVL rapid assessment were organized from time to time.

FUNDING AND RESPONSE SUPPORT

Response Partners

Consortia members in the response include Action Aid, Plan, Christian Aid, and ADRA

Nakhi Bisoi, a widow and mother of three daughters moved into the transitional shelter a week ago. The family lived in open for days post Phailin and then took shelter at a relative’s place. The sense of safety and privacy in the new house makes it home.

Government & Nonprofit

Phailin Emergency Update - July 2014