On 17 March 2022, UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford has announced a further £500,000 of UK aid for Madagascar following a series of extreme weather events.
The new UK support will allow UNICEF to provide safe water, emergency sanitation and hygiene services for 13,500 people and to help monitor for outbreaks of water borne diseases.
This is in addition to the £500,000 the UK contributed to the Red Cross emergency appeal earlier this month.
UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford said:
Cyclone Emnati is the fourth extreme weather event to hit Madagascar in the last month. They have impacted hundreds of thousands of people, causing widespread flooding, displacement and destroying livelihoods.
This additional £500,000 will bring the level of UK support to a total of £1 million, providing immediate assistance to vulnerable communities through partners on the ground and helping Madagascar to recover.
UNICEF Representative in Madagascar, Jean-François Basse said:
This support from the United Kingdom comes at a crucial time as UNICEF and partners are on the ground working to assist those impacted by these cyclones and tropical storms. By urgently addressing the water and sanitation needs of these communities we can keep a bad situation from getting worse.
Tropical Cyclone Emnati hit Madagascar on 22 February, following Cyclone Batsirai and Storm Dumako in early February and Storm Ana in January.
These extreme weather events have affected up to half a million people with widespread flooding and destruction of property, schools and health centres.
When these natural disasters strike, the UNICEF team is at the forefront of deploying key responses and providing assistance to victims. The main activities are related to the installation of water storage and treatment tanks, the construction of emergency latrines and vector control, and the distribution of hygiene kits that include household water treatment tablets/solutions, sanitary napkins, soap bars, a bucket with a lid, a plastic cup, hydroalcoholic gel, and hand washing devices.
The UK continues to work with local authorities and partners to monitor the situation closely.
UK aid
- more details on the Red Cross appeal is on the Red Cross website
- in addition, the UK is a donor to African Risk Capacity (ARC), Africa’s regional insurance pool and the first risk pool in the world that links pay-outs following a disaster to pre-approved contingency plans. Tropical Cyclone BATSIRAI has triggered a US$10.7 million payment from the African Risk Capacity Group (ARC) to help the government of Madagascar and its people build back better
- the UK is a significant contributor to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF), which has allocated funding of CHF 750,000 (approx. £600,000)
- the UK is also a contributor to the Start Network, a multilateral humanitarian fund, which has already set aside nearly £635,000 of assistance for those most in most in need
UNICEF
- UNICEF has worked closely with the government’s National Risk and Disaster management office throughout the responses to facilitate coordination
- UNICEF’s pre-positioned response team and supplies in key cities and town throughout the affected areas
- UNICEF supported the preparation and coordination of the response, working with government and NGO partners, particularly in the areas of water and sanitation, health, and education
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