Less than three
months after severe flooding in the Banat region of western Romania
– which caused damage exceeding US$ 600 million - the country has
been hit again by devastating floods. 31 counties out of 42 are affected
by the current flooding with Moldavia (the counties of Bacau, Vrancea
and Galati) being the worst hit. The death toll currently stands at
28.
The floods, the
worst in more than half a century, were triggered by heavy rain causing
rivers to overflow. Soldiers and fire fighters evacuated 12,166 people
from 13,800 flooded homes. 368 homes collapsed instantly. More than
550 bridges and power lines were brought down and 106 towns had no
electricity for 3 days.
Among the devastated
communities were also those that had previously received assistance
through ACT appeal EURO41 - Agas and Asau - Bacau county. In spite
of the many closed access roads, ACT member AIDRom has
managed to reach these communities (Agas and Asau) by forest roads
and helicopter. The most urgent needs are food and fresh water along
with general hygiene items. Army helicopters are regularly delivering
supplies, but these are clearly insufficient taking into consideration
the magnitude of the flooding. Currently the local and county authorities
are working to re-establish road access to the area (the railway will
be fixed most probably only within 6 months), in order to be able
to make humanitarian deliveries by truck. AIDRom has already initiated
the packing of 1,000 parcels (500 food and 500 non-food) plus 500
packages of mineral water to be transported and distributed in the
middle of next week. Part of these supplies will be transported by
helicopter to areas inaccessible by road.
AIDRom will put
together a new ACT proposal for the province of Moldavia, prioritising
assistance to the most vulnerable in the county of Bacau (where AIDRom
was operational in EURO41). Other severely affected regions will also
be included – most probably Galati county. AIDRom will visit Galati
and carry out an assessment as soon as access by road is possible.
Involvement of the government is obvious in many areas, but as in
the Banat floods, there are also forgotten areas.
Taking in consideration
that the EURO-51 appeal is currently under implementation in the western
regions, for efficient implementation and co-ordination of two Appeals,
AIDRom wishes to provide only inputs of food and non-food items along
with some reconstruction materials. The target will not exceed USD
250,000.
