UN System Supports the Initiative

The UN System in India welcomes the Government of Gujarat's initiative in organising a Conference on "Sustainable Recovery and Vulnerability Reduction in India" on 12 May 2001 in Gujarat, in collaboration with the Government of India and the UN System. The Conference was announced by Dr. P.K. Misra, CEO of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), at a meeting with development partners in New Delhi.

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Gujarat Earthquake

Update on UN System's Response

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):

UNDP has mobilized three million dollars for its relief and rehabilitation activities in Gujarat - $ 650,000 from the Government of UK to set up a UN System Coordination mechanism; $ 1.7 million from the Government of Italy to complement the coordination mechanism, as well as for shelter and integrated recovery activities; $ 216,000 from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and $ 400,000 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the relief activities. The initiatives emphasize involving women's groups and networking at district and taluka levels through National UN Volunteers (NUNVs).

Community-based shelter construction has been initiated with the Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan, mobilizing owners for seismically safe construction. For facilitating the rehabilitation process, UNDP has recruited engineers and masons from Latur, Maharashtra, who were involved in the rehabilitation process in that region in the aftermath of the 1993 earthquake, and linked them to Gujarat engineers so that lessons learnt during the Latur earthquake can be best utilized for the current project. UNDP has provided funds for Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan (NGO) to start construction of 120 one-room earthquake-resistant shelters in Kutch district for immediate and medium-term needs. UNDP will focus on provision of childcare in approximately 300 villages to relieve women for work and support affected children through shelter and schooling, alternative livelihoods through support to existing women's groups and micro-capital assistance of about US$100,000 for each region.

UNDP is also working to provide community-based integrated livelihood restoration in Kutch, Surendranagar and Patan districts by focussing on women and children, and by working with existing partners like Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS).

UNDP's coordination role places emphasis on establishing a platform for the various actors in Gujarat to provide effective and efficient relief and rehabilitation assistance based on the real needs of the people. The platform is meant for the Government, local and international NGOs, UN agencies and other donors to share information and plan the activities. The Government has officially mandated the sub-centres coordinated by Kutch Navnirman Abihyan (NGO) and funded by UNDP and other donors to coordinate the relief and rehabilitation efforts in the Kutch district at the sub-district level.

To facilitate coordination, a GIS-based database system has been established to provide village-level information for NGOs, donors and the Government. It is regularly updated with data from the District Development Office. Information regarding government policies and recovery packages is being distributed to international and national NGOs/organisations.

The Disaster Mitigation Institute, Ahmedabad, will undertake an awareness raising and information dissemination campaign funded by UNDP in Surendranagar and Patan/Banaskantha districts, focussing on collecting information on relief and rehabilitation projects and making it available for the public using its existing network of government organisations, NGOs and CBOs.

During the rehabilitation phase a priority for UNDP will be to work for the reduction of social vulnerability, particularly with respect to women, children and the aged. UNDP's long-term strategic approach is to facilitate recovery from the complex disaster presented by the compound impact of earthquakes, droughts, and cyclones affecting the population in the region. It will support the restoration of livelihoods, basic shelter and social services in the shortest possible period, bridging the gap between the winding down of disaster relief operations and the planning, programming and financing of long-term reconstruction activities. UNDP, together with UNESCO, proposes to work on the restoration of cultural heritage sites damaged in the earthquake.

World Food Programme (WFP):

WFP had launched a four-month emergency operation to prevent a serious deterioration in the nutritional status of the most vulnerable victims. Since its launch, WFP has been meeting special nutritional requirements of 300,000 women and children through provisions of high energy biscuits and fortified food valued at $ 2 million.

WFP's first step in the relief effort was a $200,000 "immediate response" operation: the deployment of 300 metric tons of high-energy biscuits to the earthquake zone for distribution to 100,000 people for 15 days. Till date, the agency has already delivered biscuits, wheat flour, pulses (moong dal) and fortified food, through their implementing agencies, namely ICDS and partner NGOs. WFP, along with UNICEF, has also successfully completed the distribution of consignments of bowls and spoons to anganwadi centers.

WFP has been working in close collaboration with the government of Gujarat, who released 2000 MT wheat from free of cost quota to WFP, for manufacturing 3,200 MT Indiamix, for children below the age of 5 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers, affected by the recent earthquake.

Partnership and coordination: As a part of the emergency operation, WFP, with support from the Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRSA) had established a staff base camp at Bhuj. It also housed the UN Joint Logistics Cell, responsible for coordinating the logistic response of the UN. Subsequently, these camp facilities and other services were opened for other UN agencies and NGOs, and are still being used for office space, accommodation and meeting purposes.

WFP, in partnership with SRSA, have also been managing tent storage facilities (wiikhalls) and distribution points for food deliveries. One each of these wiikhalls was lent to IFRC, WVI and State Civil Supplies Corporation, Bachau (valued at $50,000), to help them in their operations.

The earthquake, which had destroyed most of the AWCs' facilities, had lead to a fear that the already precarious situation of the children with a propensity to malnutrition might have worsened. Thus, WFP took the lead in food security and nutrition assessment. The survey undertaken to determine the level of acute malnutrition among children aged 6- 59 months in the district of Kutch, is complete. The results indicate that the level of acute malnutrition are still alarmingly high (about 20%) but nutritional situation has not deteriorated. Prompt response from the Government of India, ICDS and nutrition partners has prevented further deterioration.

Following up the WFP VAM rapid assessment, a "Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Profile Assessment" was conducted jointly by WFP and CRS with support from UNICEF to assess level of food security and analyze coping mechanisms available to the population.

Future actions: WFP will collaborate with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for implementation of various projects in the future.

World Health Organisation (WHO):

Disease Surveillance: Current data sources are mobile medical teams and reporting units of a village-based disease surveillance system. The surveillance efforts are supported by six WHO surveillance officers. The epidemiological data is compiled and analyzed by district health offices (DHO) in cooperation with the WHO surveillance unit. Weekly epidemiology summary reports are released by the Kutch District Disease Surveillance Unit.

WHO environmental health consultants have working relationships with the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board, the Kutch District Water Quality Laboratory, offices of the Kutch Relief Commissioner, and Bhuj Relief Commissioner. Activities include sanitation improvements in the temporary campsites of Bhuj Municipality, and for rural villages in Kutch District.

WHO supports the coordination of external humanitarian health assistance and provides technical liaison with the state government and district health offices in compilation of health sector component summaries and gap analysis of humanitarian health assistance.

WHO also provided issue-specific briefs. Task differentiation within the health sector has led to creation of five subsectors: hospitals, PHC/health infrastructure, mental health, health promotion, nutrition, and prosthetics-rehabilitation. The future challenge for WHO will be to assist DHO in managing an expanding range of health subsectors grappling with increasingly technical issues.

Health coordination at block level is led by DHO-appointed block nodal officers. With urban areas considered most likely sources for communicable disease outbreaks, WHO has assisted the block nodal officers, with special attention to Bhuj, Bachau and Anjar.

Transition of relief to rehabilitation: With a view to ensuring that disaster mitigation aspects are fully incorporated in the restoration of the health sector and to provide additional capacity for the Gujarat State Government for planning the restoration of health sector, WHO is working on the long-term support and restoration of the health sector, particularly for control of communicable diseases, including malaria control and vector borne diseases; disease surveillance and epidemiology; blood bank services; HIV/AIDS; control of tuberculosis (DOTS); mental health; and environmental health -- water, sanitation and food safety. The WHO provided this support to restoration of these services through a secretariat in the State Health Department to help plan rehabilitation of health sector and coordinate external assistance.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF):

The Government of Gujarat and UNICEF have jointly taken up the challenging task of opening all the primary schools, by extending prompt support to restart primary schools and Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) in Kutch district and other affected districts. Phase I focuses on start-up of schools in tented class rooms, CRCs and construction of about 10 prefab structures; Phase II from June to end of the current year will aim at setting up of Community Management Boards which will oversee school reconstruction; and Phase III will focus on quality education interventions that will include establishment of information data base. CRCs, around which Gujarat Government and UNICEF are focusing much of their operations in the education sector, have started functioning in many places. An informal curriculum is being followed that aims at helping children overcome the stress. This strategy effectively feeds into UNICEF plans for establishing psycho-social support and counseling for persistent symptoms of trauma, which is being established in collaboration with the Departments of Education and Health and NIMHANS, Bangalore, and NGOs.

A supply consolidation facility is established in Gandhinagar for supplies meant for schools and CRCs. Items like tents, pupil & teacher kits, furniture etc that are received from suppliers by UNICEF are distributed according to distribution plans provided by the government. Other commodities such as water tanks, prefabricated structures and family kits are being directly delivered to the sites by the suppliers based on the despatch plans. UNICEF monitors the stocking and distribution of relief and rehabilitation supplies in the villages to ensure that they are reaching the needy. Extensive efforts are on to prevent outbreak of communicable diseases like measles, diarrhoea and malaria. More than 220,000 children received measles vaccination and vitamin A supplementation as part of the campaign undertaken in the quake-affected talukas. A campaign to cover all antenatal cases with TT doses and IFA has been launched in all affected districts. The first two prefabricated Anganwadis have been erected in the villages of Kukma and Madhapur. Locations for a further 174 Anganwadis and 145 health sub-centres have been finalised by UNICEF in consultation with the Health Department. 2,000 water tanks are being distributed for use in Anganwadis, health sub-centres, CRCs, schools.

UNICEF and the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment are working together on promoting child rights. The immediate priority is the rehabilitation of unaccompanied children with their extended families. UNICEF has supported the government to reinstate water sources by providing 50 diesel generating sets, all of which have been installed and commissioned. 1,400 community storage tanks provided by UNICEF to Govt. of Gujarat as part of the drought mitigation efforts have been installed in Kutch district. 50 water tankers 5 are under despatch to transport drinking water to affected areas. A proposal for Rapar Taluka focusing on well rejuvenation, source development and distribution of water with an estimated cost of US$ 700,000 has been developed for funding by Italy.

UNICEF has formulated a second request with an estimated budget of US$ 16 million, which focuses on medium and long term rehabilitation of the sectors of health, nutrition, education, water supply & sanitation, child protection, communication and coordination based on a multi-hazard strategy. UNICEF has further strengthened its field level activities at Bhuj by deploying additional staff in the areas of emergency coordination, psycho-social support, communication, logistics etc.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):

Based on a field assessment carried out right after the earthquake, UNFPA identified priority areas for intervention in order to meet the immediate, short and medium-term requirements, respectively. Of the priority areas identified, and after consultation with the relevant state authorities, UNFPA plans to revitalize the health and family welfare services in the affected areas through a multi-pronged strategy.

UNFPA will also collaborate with other UN agencies to provide and support technical assistance on counseling, targeting women and female adolescents in particular.

Mobile Health Units - UNFPA will support 12 mobile health service units in the affected talukas of Kutch-Anjar, Bhachau, Rapar, Bhuj town and Surendranagar and Banaskanta districts. Providing mobile health services to the indigent sections, particularly women and children, with provision for counselling, will be the priority. The support will be provided to the state government to initiate the services on a priority basis.

The team in each mobile unit will consist of one medical officer, one counsellor and one paramedic, who will visit two villages in a day, thus covering all the affected villages on a weekly basis. The medical officer and paramedics of the existing health system will operate the units. UNFPA will sub-contract the services of 12 counsellors. The services will include general health and medical services and services to pregnant women and the unit will be equipped accordingly. Besides providing outreach services, the mobile units would facilitate the organisation of medical camps and also act as sentinel units for disease surveillance.

Repair, Reconstruction and Equipping the Damaged Health Facilities - The worst affected villages in Kutch, Surendranagar and Banaskata districts are around 500. Most of the health facilities in these villages have been devastated. On selective basis, UNFPA will contribute to repairing and equipping facilities such as sub-centres (SCs), Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and First Referral Units (FRUs). A significant numbers of health facilities have been totally destroyed. Some of the strategically located facilities like sub-centres, PHCc and FRUs in these areas need to be reconstructed and equipped on a priority basis to provide comprehensive health services. UNFPA would seek additional support for undertaking this activity.

Supporting Women's cooperative or organized groups - The existing women's groups or cooperatives will receive assistance for livelihood activities, combined with social support services.

International Labour Organisation (ILO):

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has undertaken, in consultation with the Gujarat authorities, a rapid assessment of the employment situation in the affected areas and formulated an action plan for public and community-based infrastructure works, clean-up and rehabilitation programmes which utilizes wherever technically and economically feasible, labour intensive work methods and other employment generation schemes.

The ILO's rapid assessment has also identified economic sectors which were particularly affected by the disasters. These include more than 20,000 handicraft women artisans in the district of Kutch; several thousands of salt farmers, mostly migrant workers, who have lost most of their assets; and thousands of cattle owners who lost more than 20,000 cattle. An ILO model programme for social and economic reconstruction in 10 villages of the Kutch district is being launched in partnership with the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA). It is aimed at creating employment through the promotion of traditional textile production and addresses the reconstruction of family housing from an employment generation aspect, as well as re-establishing the women's livelihoods through their handicrafts.

Joint activities with other international organizations, including the International Organization for Migration, are aimed at providing assistance to 10,000 migrant workers and their families, particularly salt farmers, and offer orientation, vocational training and employment opportunities linked to the reconstruction of semi-permanent shelters.

Asia Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT):

APCTT proposes to support initiatives in the Shelter and Livelihoods sectors in partnership with UNDP and other organizations working in these sectors. In the construction of disaster resistant houses, APCTT support will be for training programmes for dissemination of earthquake-resistant technologies and in support of livelihoods by facilitating the recovery of Gujarat SMEs through technology transfer and assistance.

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