Background: On Friday 14 March Cyclone Idai made landfall near the coastal city of Beira (Sofala province) in Mozambique, before tracking west and eventually dissipating. Heavy rain and sustained winds of over 190 kmh resulted in extensive flooding, coastal storm surges and significant damage to property and infrastructure. Mozambique has experienced widespread flooding as well as major infrastructure and property damage. Malawi, Zimbabwe and Madagascar have all been affected to a lesser degree as a result of heavy rainfall and localised flood events. The situation is likely to deteriorate in the short term with heavy rain forecast to continue in the coming days.

Impact: The cyclone affected a wide geographical area and the scale of impact is yet to be established. OCHA’s initial assessments indicate at least 242 people have died and UNICEF have stated that an estimated 260,000 children are in need of assistance. The Mozambican Red Cross suggest that the balance is likely to rise to over 1,000 casualties and the affected population is 1.5M. The situation is likely to deteriorate in the coming days following forecasts of heavy rainfall and result in a rise of flood waters of up to eight metres. The Mozambique government stated that 350,000 people remain at risk.

As humanitarian organisations prepare to respond to the current crisis, ILS have put together a short, context specific toolkit to support preparation and deployment of staff to an active disaster zone.

Preparation: Conducting operations in a disaster affected or post disaster environment requires careful planning. Cyclone Idai acted as a catalyst interacting with pre-existing vulnerabilities in the areas affected, triggering multiple cascading hazards events that are specific to the environment that they occurred. While flood events remain the most visible aspect of the crisis, numerous other threats pose a risk to staff members on the ground. Staff deployed to affected areas is likely to be exposed to very stressful situations by a psychophysical point of view. This is likely as a result of working in precarious conditions by the sleep, alimentation and stress management perspectives and because of vicarious traumatisation.

With organisations about to deploy personnel who are potent ia l ly unfami l iar wi th the env i ronment , a comprehensive risk assessment will allow for improved understanding of the potential threat’s employees face:

•An analysis of the ground environment. The Cyclone has impacted Beira city as well as remote communities living near the Pungwe river including Inhambane, Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambezia provinces.

•The challenges of operating in an environment with limited access to power, basic supplies (food, water health care and fuel) as well as communication difficulties.

•The cascading nature of extreme natural hazard events. While heavy rains are causing visible flood events, unseen impacts such as ground disturbances and infrastructure damage could result in landslides and disease outbreaks.

•The potential for security incidents will increase following major natural hazards. Communities who are affected will have restricted access to essential commodities and services including food, water and health care which could result in periods of unrest and looting.

Information captured on an assessment should then be used to inform proactive mitigation measures that seek to reduce the level of risk to deployed personnel.

Response Toolkit Cyclone Idai, Mozambique

•1.7 million people affected across four countries

•242 confirmed dead •1,400 injured • Further rains expected • Beira airport closed • Multiple road closures • 600,000 people in need of food

assistance • 385,300 hectares of crops destroyed • 17,400 house destroyed • Severe infrastructure damage • Reduced access to clean water and

sanitation • Potential for disease outbreak • Electricity and communications

outages

Idai at a glance (Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi and Zimbabwe)

Current situation: Manica, Zambezia and Sofala provinces in Mozambique all remain severely affected. Many roads remain impassable and Beira Airport, serving the region, remains shut. Electricity outages have been reported across the provinces including throughout Beira. Niassa, Gaza, Inhambane and Tete provinces have more localised impacts at the present time, flooding has led to road closures.

Future Impact: Prolonged spells of rain are likely to lead to a deteriation in areas already affected and increase the risk of flash flooding and landslides in unaffected areas. There is likely to be significant disruption in the coming days as the government alongside different agencies attempt to restore basic essential services, including electricity, access to water and road access.

Organisational Mitigation: What duty of care considerations should you consider prior to deploying staff and to support with the management of critical incidents when teams are in

the field.

• Review your crisis management plan to make sure it is current and relevant for the environment.

• Brief deploying personnel on the prevailing safety and security risks and actions to take in the event of an emergency.

• Remain aware of the limitations of both medical and logistical support currently available in the affected areas.

• Consider the makeup of the team being deployed. Include staff with first aid training, those with strong local knowledge, psychosocial support training and those who have operated in similar natural disaster environments.

• Review journey management procedures and make sure they are relevant for the environment.

• Ensure the deploying team have access to relevant and time sensitive intelligence.

Response Toolkit

Mitigation Yes No

Do you have a current and up-to-date crisis management plan detailing the Duty of Care commitments of your organisation?

Have deploying staff been briefed on the current security and safety situation in country?

Are staff aware of the current logistical and medical limitations in country, and have contingency plans been discussed?

Has insurance coverage been reviewed and is it relevant? (eg. covering medical evacuation in disaster environment)

Are journey management processes in place to support challenging ground movements?

Are there sources of intelligence available for the team so they remain aware of the changing situation on the ground?

Can deployed personnel access additional support mechanisms while on the ground, including psychosocial support?

ILS Checklist

Personnel Mitigation: Personnel deploying to areas affected by Cyclone Idai are likely to encounter challenging conditions from the outset of their mission.

• Access to electricity, basic supplies (including food, water and fuel), accommodation and transportation as well as communication difficulties are all going to contribute to a challenging field environment.

• Deployed personnel should aim to be self-reliant, including for food and water for the time they plan to be operating in the areas. Markets are unlikely to be operating in the next weeks as supply chains are disrupted and focussed on emergency supplies distribution. Personnel deployed should know how to respond to flood warnings and alerts.

• Medical services will be limited and those available will be saturated due to the crisis. It is recommended to have a medical kits and training in how to use it. The access to clean water is likely to be an issue, for which water tablets and rehydrat ion sachets are recommended as part of the kits.

• Check you have relevant insurance that will support with medical evacuation if required.

• Know evacuation routes ahead of time and always have a grab bag on hand if you need to immediate leave an area.

The crisis in Mozambique remains a fluid situation, with further heavy rains likely to exacerbate the situation. Teams will be deploying into an ongoing disaster and therefore need to understand the risks associated with this and plan for them.

• Take personal responsibility for monitoring local news sites and INAM website, UNOCHA briefing notes and the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) for the latest information.

• When undertaking travel by road, plan routes carefully, utilising the networks and local-level knowledge available to the team.

• Roads can become quickly flooded or impaired by land slides therefore and therefore it is prudent to plan multiple routes to the intended destination and set out after confirming which one is least impacted.

If you would like to discuss any of these issues further, we will be happy to support, feel free to contact us on: info@locationsafety.com or www.locationsafety.com