Many thanks to the Sequoyah School!

In response to the massive flooding that hit much of Pakistan in the summer of 2010, the “Over There” Class (5th and 6th grades) collected school supplies to add to Operation USA’s relief efforts focusing on education.

We are always greatly impressed by the enthusiasm and generosity of our donors. Thank you Sequoyah School for engaging some of our youngest supporters.

September 1, 2010

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

The Government now reports that over 18 million people have been affected by the floods. The death toll stands at 1,667. Over 1.2 million houses have been damaged or destroyed. Floodwaters are receding in many areas, and though there are concerns about standing water that remains in Punjab and other areas, the worst of the current flooding is taking place in Sindh.

Two areas in Sindh have been affected by major flooding since the last situation report. On Monday floodwaters entered Gaji Khuhwar, a town of 40,000 people in Warah tehsil, Qamber Shahdadkot district. Efforts to divert floodwaters from Warah town are ongoing. New flooding was also reported from Mehar and Khairpur Nathan Shah tehsils in neighbouring Dadu district. Dadu and Johi towns are under threat as floodwaters continue to move southwards through Hamal Lake. Flooding in this area has extended west and south from the Indus since an embankment was breached over two weeks ago, inundating Jacobabad and parts of Jaffarabad and Nasirabad districts in the neighboring province of Balochistan.

Further south, in Thatta district, almost 1,300 km2 of land are reported to have been flooded in recent days following a breach near Surjani last week, displacing more than half a million people. An estimated 400,000 people are believed to have moved to higher ground on the outskirts of Makli, near Thatta town, and along the Karachi-Hyderabad highway. Others have moved towards Golarchi in Badin district, to the east of Thatta. Floodwaters are now threatening the towns of Jati and Chohar Jamali, near the coast to the east of the Indus. Parts of the highway between Thatta and Badin has been submerged.

Education

The cluster reports that 180 schools have been damaged in FATA (mainly in Frontier Region D.I. Khan). The total number of flood-damaged schools in the country stands at 9,484. There is a need to provide temporary school structures as well as school supplies such as tents, school-in-a-box kits and recreation kits for fully damaged schools to ensure continuation of education during the transition period from tents to permanent buildings. Government schools in Punjab are due to reopen 14 September.

Health

Latest figures show that more than 436 health facilities in affected areas have been damaged or destroyed. The cluster needs to prevent emerging health threats and outbreaks through fast, timely, effective and coordinated joint health interventions. There is also a need to ensure that requested medical supplies reach affected communities in time. Increased numbers of suspected malaria cases are being recorded in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

Nutrition

Children under five make up approximately 14% of the affected population, while 8% are pregnant and lactating women. At least 6% are elderly or otherwise vulnerable. The cluster’s priorities for rapid nutrition assistance at this point are children under five and PLW. There is also a need to establish community-level acute malnutrition programmes in affected areas. Key messages on infant and young child feeding and hygiene also need to be disseminated in the affected areas.

Shelter

The latest figures show 1.25 million houses have been damaged or destroyed. There are major needs for emergency shelter in all affected provinces, but in particular in Sindh and Punjab, where coverage is 3% and 5% respectively. Though more organisations are scaling up their responses in Punjab and Sindh, ongoing flooding in Thatta district in southern Sindh is expected to stretch resources even further. Movement of people back to their homes in areas where waters are receding means that relief and early recovery responses will need to be carried out in parallel. Some relief camps are being closed in southern Punjab (as of 31 August, 3 of the initial 11 camps managed by the army have been closed; of the 214 other sites, there have so far been no reports of closure).

Updated map of flooded areas (click on map to enlarge):

OPERATION USA RESPONDS TO SOUTH ASIA FLOOD DISASTER

LOS ANGELES, CA (August 3, 2010)—Los Angeles-based International relief agency, Operation USA announced that will provide disaster relief assistance in response to unusually heavy monsoonal flooding in a wide region of northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. Many of the areas which were devastated by the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake have been impacted. Operation USA has developed a network of local partner agencies and is limiting its assistance to areas already familiar to it.

Through a well-developed network of local partner agencies, Operation USA is working to provide critical medical aid, water purification tablets and shelter relief to those made most vulnerable by the devastation, with an emphasis on the needs of women and children. The floods have ravaged the lives and livelihoods of millions and the impact of this disaster will be felt for months to come. Operation USA will additionally focus long-term recovery efforts on rebuilding the already tenuous education capacity for girls.

The agency is appealing to the public for funds—and to companies for bulk disaster materials including water purification chemicals, shelter supplies, electric generators, medicines and medical equipment.

HOW TO HELP:
Donate online at www.opusa.org, by phone at 1.800.678.7255 or, by check made out to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave, Suite A, Culver City, CA 90232. Text REBUILD to 50555 to donate $10 to relief efforts.

LEARN MORE about Operation USA’s disaster relief efforts in Pakistan:  ONE SHEET_PAKISTAN FLOODS 2010

About Operation USA
Operation USA is an international relief agency that helps communities at home and abroad overcome the effects of disasters, disease and endemic poverty by providing privately-funded relief, reconstruction and development aid. Since 1979, the Los Angeles-based Operation USA has worked in 99 countries, delivering over $350 million for relief and development projects.

Learn more and make secure donations at www.opusa.org.

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Media Contact:
Alison Deknatel, Director of Communications, Operation USA
310.838.3455 or adeknatel@opusa.org

Richard Walden, President and CEO, Operation USA
310.838.3455 or rwalden@opusa.org

Operation USA received over $4 million in donations from private citizens, corporations and foundations. Over $12 million more in products and transportation was also donated. Operation USA’s extensive experience in Asia resulted in quickly mobilizing partners on the ground.

Projects were funded in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and India. The scope of work ranged from providing emergency supplies such as water purification, medical aid and shelter materials to longer-term recovery projects that included building health centers, giving livelihood grants, as well as making the commitment to rebuild an entire Sri Lankan fishing village.

Operation USA remains an active and dedicated part of the long-term recovery process, and numerous projects continue in a large number of these communities.

Formed in 2001, the VISIONS leadership program was intially a summer camp conducted by volunteers from around the world teaching English, computer and leadership skills in Sri Lankan orphanages (children’s homes) in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna. Operation USA is supporting the construction of The Visions Learning Center, which will be built adjacent to the Kalagam Girls School in Colombo. This new building will allow for the institutionalizing of ongoing Visions Summer Programs.

The Kalagam Girls School educates hundreds of Tamil girls every year, and has recently absorbed a large number of displaced young girls from the North East. This multistoried learning center will house a Visions office, ample space for student groups and activities from the adjacent school (Saiva Mangaiyar Vidyalayam), halls for special trainings and English classes, a computer lab, a multimedia room and a Montessori nursery. Over 400 refugee children from the Northeast will benefit from this project, as well as countless other disadvantaged and deserving youth and teachers in Colombo.

UPDATE: Field Report, January 2010
 
Operation USA recently visited the site of the nearly complete Visions Learning Center in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Started in 2008, the center now has five completed floors, and is expected to be complete by summer of 2010.

Built as an addition to the Kalagam Girls School in Colombo, the Center will provide additional space for a computer center, leadership training, arts education, and a space for cultural activities. The Visions Center will provide leadership training programs for young girls affected by the tsunami and the conflict, many of whom live in regions where access to education is inconsistent. The center aims to provide a permanent base in Colombo for ongoing Visions training programs across the islands.

Operation USA’s largest Tsunami relief project has been in the fishing village of Kallady, in the Trincomalee District on the East coast of Sri Lanka. The village was devastated by the Tsunami–leaving homes and livelihoods destroyed, and any semblance of basic infrastructure in tatters.

In 2005, Operation USA committed to partnering with local NGOs to rebuild Kallady. This project has provided 136 homes, a health center, community center, primary school and preschool, as well as livelihood materials, including 60 boats and fishing nets, to allow for self-sustaining income generation for the village.

In July 2007, Kallady village sustained additional damage as a result of the renewal of civil conflict, displacing local residents until early 2008. They returned to damaged homes and wells, missing fishing boats, and increased army presence. Early in 2009, in partnership with Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, Operation USA began work on a large-scale water and sanitation project in the village, including the reconstruction of 53 latrines.

For those that survived the last days of war, the return to normalcy has been long and challenging. Today, most of this population lives in resettled villages across the North and East of the island in heavily militarized zones. With a high population (nearly 90,000) of war widows and women-headed households, damaged roads and schools, limited freedom of movement, and high prices – these communities are still struggling to survive, even years after the cessation of the war.

Operation USA is working with community-based organizations in these areas to meet the immediate survival needs as well as to develop sustainable long-term programming in education, health, and livelihoods-with a focus on programs to support women’s development.

OPERATION USA APPEALS FOR FUNDS TO AID HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SRI LANKA

ORGANIZATION JOINS GLOBAL RELIEF COMMUNITY IN CALLING FOR IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO CONFLICT ZONES FOR HUMANITARIAN WORKERS

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 28, 2009)—Los Angeles-based international relief agency Operation USA is calling for donations to provide critical aid to civilians left vulnerable in Sri Lanka due to intensified fighting between the Sri Lankan Security Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). More than 230,000 civilians are currently trapped by fighting in a 250 square-kilometer area in the Northeast of the country.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands of wounded are overwhelming understaffed and ill-equipped medical facilities in Sri Lanka’s northern Vanni region. Food, fuel and medical supplies remain in short supply. Operation USA is working to send critical medical supplies to the area.

Included in Operation USA’s appeal is a demand that the UN, IRCR and international NGOs have immediate access for humanitarian workers. “On top of the lack of resources to assist the hundreds of thousands in need, access to the conflict zone has been blocked by government action,” said Richard Walden, President and CEO, Operation USA.

This escalated fighting has exacerbated an already serious humanitarian crisis in the region. Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans are displaced across the island due to war past and present and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Violence first erupted in 1983. Since then, some 70,000 people have been killed in fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels who want an independent state in the north and east of the island. Landmines and explosive debris have left large areas uninhabitable. The fighting has also laid waste to agricultural land, contributing to child malnutrition.

Every part of Sri Lanka felt the effects of the Tsunami. For an island with a total population of roughly 20.7 million, 30,957 were reported dead, 15,196 were injured, 5,644 were reported missing, 78,407 homes were destroyed, 396,170 people were displaced and 896 children are orphaned. Operation USA worked in the immediate aftermath to rebuild and continues to support long-term recovery, education, health and nutrition projects with local partners.

HOW TO HELP: Donate online at www.opusa.org, by phone at 1.800.678.7255 or, by check made out to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave, Suite A, Culver City, CA 90232. Please specify “Sri Lanka” in the notes section.

Corporate contributions of essential products in bulk and with at least one year’s remaining shelf life can be arranged by calling Neil Frame, Operation USA, 310.838.3455.

About Operation USA
Operation USA is an international relief agency that helps communities at home and abroad overcome the effects of disasters, disease and endemic poverty by providing privately-funded relief, reconstruction and development aid. Since 1979, the Los Angeles-based Operation USA has worked in 99 countries, delivering over $300 million for relief and development projects.

Learn more at www.opusa.org.

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EDITOR’S NOTE:
Operation USA is one of the only US NGOs (privately funded) that has been working in conflict zones of Northeast Sri Lanka since the early 90s and remains committed to this population.

Nimmi Gowrinathan, South Asia Programs Director, is based in New York and is available for interviews. Gowrinathan has just returned from a 4-week trip to the region, and is in regular contact with people on the ground who are directing the relief efforts. Video footage is also available.

Media Contact:
Nimmi Gowrinathan
Director, South Asia Programs, Operation USA
310.721.6930 cell, 646.475.5112 office or ngowrinathan@opusa.org

Alison Deknatel, Director of Communications, Operation USA
310.838.3455 or adeknatel@opusa.org

Richard Walden, President and CEO, Operation USA
310.838.3455 or rwalden@opusa.org