IHP supports UNDAC in assessing impact of Malawi floods

Published: 09 February 2015

In January 2015, Malawi was struck by severe flooding, and an UNDAC team was deployed upon the request by the Government. IHP has been an integral part of the mission through the provision of staff, IT- and Telecommunications infrastructure.

More than 1 million people have been reported affected by the floods with more than 336 000 displaced and 100 casualties. The water has caused damage to crops, livestock and infrastructure.

In the middle of January 2015, UN OCHA (Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) deployed an UNDAC team (UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination) to assess the situation and to provide advice to the Malawian authorities. The IHP was asked to make available support to the team. IHP experts were deployed, from DEMA (Denmark), DSB (Norway) and MSB (Sweden). As part of the support IHP enabled effective coordination and communication through the provision of ICT equipment and expertise.

“Our humanitarian partners, UN agencies, NGOs and the Government – want to know how many people have been affected and where. This information will guide the relief response, help shape recovery efforts and influence donors. We have spent days assessing the situation in the three worst-hit districts" - says the UNDAC Team member, Mona Folkesson (MSB Sweden).

The initial deployment duration was three weeks but the extension of the in-country presence of the UNDAC team lead to continued IHP and subsequent rotation of IHP personnel from MSB and THW (Germany).

“This has been a traditional emergency response mission in the sense that IHP has provided support to coordination and communication through the extension of coordination expertise and ICT support to UNDAC in the field, which has been a core IHP service since the inception of the partnership. We are pleased that IHP together has been able to support OCHA, with representatives from four IHP countries" - says IHP chairperson Trygve Bruun.

For further reading: UNOCHA website

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