In January, 2000 Romania received unusually heavy snowfall, especially in the mainly mountainous region of Transylvania, which resulted in many towns and villages being isolated. This was followed in March and beginning of April by severe floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfalls and quick melting snow. The government reported that one quarter of the Romanian territory was affected. Houses, farmland, dams, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure were severely damaged. This thaw was immediately followed by an intensively cold period which exacerbated the situation for those already victim to the floods and its destruction.

On 13 April US$ 20,000 was advanced from the Rapid Response Fund to ACT member the Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania (AIDRom) to initiate assistance. AIDRom working with its member churches, and especially the Romanian Orthodox Church, are proposing a project which includes the following components:

• Shelter Rehabilitation
• Non-food
• Agriculture (seeds)
• Infrastructure (reconstruction of bridges)
• Water & Sanitation

Signed by:

Thor-Arne Prois, ACT Coordinator
Geneviève Jacques, Director, Cluster on Relations, World Council of Churches
Rudolf Hinz, Director, Department for World Service, Lutheran World Federation

REQUESTING ACT MEMBER

• Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania – (AIDRom)

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

The Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania (AIDRom) is a non-governmental body, whose primary aim is to assure an ecumenical cooperation between the member churches (Romanian Orthodox, Hungarian Reformed and German Lutheran) regarding current issues - education, mission, social and diaconal matters, ecology - and financially assisting various ecumenical projects of these churches, through the coordination of the various Bishops Offices. Since 1991 AIDRom has, through its Emergency Unit, been actively involved in helping the victims of various natural disasters (1991 earthquake in Banath region, 1991 flood in Moldavia, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 floods in Transylvania, Moldavia and Southern Romania).

Implementing Partners:
AIDRom will be implementing the assistance with the aid of the Romanian Orthodox Church and its various offices in the affected areas.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMERGENCY SITUATION

Background
In the middle of January 2000 vast amounts of snow fell throughout Romania and especially in Transylvania, a region dominated by high mountains and rivers. Due to the heavy snowfall many towns and villages were paralyzed and completely isolated. The first week in March 2000 was an unusually mild period for the time of the year and caused a massive melting of the remaining snows and consequently flooding. The situation was further exacerbated by heavy rainfall on 9 and 10 March and consequently 13 counties found themselves again under flood waters and again frozen during an extremely cold period. To exacerbate the already dire situation, there was again heavy rainfall between 5 and 7 April causing further devastation and suffering to the already beleaguered population.

In spite of the fact that Romania is regularly hit twice a year, with floods in early spring and again in summer, the state authorities and the government were once more taken by surprise at the events and help for the victims was either inadequate or non-existent. A rapid and effective assistance strategy for those most affected by the disaster does not exist, not to mention any disaster awareness / mitigation strategy.

Victims seeking restitution from insurance companies were systematically refused as the companies were unwilling to insure property in such a high flood risk area. For many years the local and regional authorities have applied for financial support from the government to enable them to build strong and resistant dams to consolidate the embankments where necessary, but without avail.

Current Situation
Most affected were the western, northern and mid-western counties of Transylvania, (13 counties). As in previous years, the most affected people are the subsistence farmers and families, living on what they are able to grow and cultivate in their fields.

In the north this tragedy has been compounded by two ecological disasters (within two weeks of each other) created by two mining companies inadvertently releasing industrial waste into the River Tisa

Impact on Human Lives and Damages

• 14 counties are seriously affected: Hunedoara, Arad, Sibiu, Brasov, Cluj, Alba, Mures, Salaj, Maramures, Bihor, Bistrita-Nasaud, Satu-Mare, Timis and Caras Severin.
• approximately 1,190 homes washed away resulting in over 3,000 people homeless.
• A total of 19 persons have lost their lives as a result of the floods.
• 3,500 farms and 65,000 hectares of agricultural lands lie under water
• 680 km of roads have been totally destroyed
• 233 bridges washed away
• hundreds of fountains, wells and kilometers of water pipes infected in the north by the mining disaster.
• electricity and communication network has been cut in 34 regions.

The greatest problem of the affected communities –especially in north - is the rehabilitation of the infrastructure which serves their everyday needs: potable water, electricity, shelter, etc.

The most affected regions are:

• Maramures: the villages of Copalnic, Manastur and Targu Lapus along the rivers Lapus, Cavnis, Iza, Viseu and Tisa. A major ecological disaster was caused in this area by the two mining companies.
• Hunedoara: the villages of Blajeni, Criscior, Baia de Cris, Vata de Jos, Basarabeanca and Brad all situated by the river Cris
• Alba: the villages of Ciuruleasa, Garda, Arieseni, Abrud, Albac and Vadu Motilor, along the rivers Mures and Somes
• Arad and Timis: the villages of Lugoj, Buzias, Faget, Fardea, Tomesti and Nadrag along the rivers Bega, Crisul Alb and Mures.

Location for Proposed Response
AIDRom proposes to assist the civil population by participating in the rehabilitation of infrastructure in the most affected counties, especially in Maramures, Hunedoara, Alba, Arad and Timisoara. AIDRom's implementing partners have assisted and will continue to assist in providing the exact information about the most affected and vulnerable families and communities. As in previous years, the local Mayors Offices will take part in the aid action initiated by AIDRom.

GOAL & OBJECTIVES

AIDRom aims to help those families whose houses and farms were completely washed away by the flood and now are forced to stay with relatives or in temporary shelters. The help would consist of construction materials necessary to build a new, permanent shelter for each family, which will later be possible to be extended into a regular family house.

Beside the affected families, AIDRom would like to contribute to the rehabilitation of vital infrastructure in the most affected villages, including potable water sources and supplies. In order to reach these goals AIDRom is also counting on the voluntary participation of the population.

BENEFICIARY INFORMATION AND TARGETED AREAS

Number and Type of Beneficiaries Targeted

• 120 rural farmer families whose houses were completely or partially destroyed.
• 28 villages ( in the regions of Maramures, Alba, Arad and Hunedoara) where the rehabilitation of potable water supplies (either natural springs, fountains or artificial channel systems) is necessary.
• 11 villages where small, pedestrian bridges separating two sides of the community have been destroyed, limiting the access to schools, medical dispensaries, church, markets, etc.
• 6 villages where 70 families will receive basic food and potable water packets.

Criteria for Selection

• Vulnerable families (with a high number of dependents) whose houses were completely washed away.
• Communities who are divided from one another by the destruction of bridges.
• Financially poor communities which cannot afford to rehabilitate potable water supplies.

Type of Proposed Assistance
Assistance will consist of food packets along with construction materials for affected families. Also infrastructure rehabilitation.

DESCRIPTION OF TARGETED ASSISTANCE

• 47 of the most vulnerable, affected families whose homes have been totally destroyed will be provided with all the basic materials for house reconstruction (bricks, cement, construction wood and sand, quick and slacked lime, roof tiles, iron plates, reinforced concrete, ferroconcrete). Each house will be reconstructed corresponding to minimal standards, hence ensuring that the house could, if needs be, extended to accommodate further household members and considered a standard dwelling.
• Repair materials for about 73 families whose houses were damaged. Bedding, furniture and blankets will be provided if necessary.
• For those rural settlements where bridges (11) or water sources (68) need to be repaired, funds will be allocated to the account of the local Mayor’s Office, which will take the necessary decisions and initiatives on how these funds will be used for the most urgent rehabilitation. The funds will be used exclusively for the acquisition of construction materials and potable water equipment (pumps, pipes, wires, etc).
• Two villages (populated mostly by gypsies) in the northern region of the county will receive seeds as the agricultural land (potato and sugar beat) belonging to the community was totally destroyed.
• The Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate will provide basic food packets and potable water to 70 most vulnerable families in 6 villages.

As the largest part of the rehabilitation expenses will be covered by AIDRom, other costs such as transportation and technical personnel will be assured by the various Mayors Offices and at the expense of the local authority.

Implementation Description
Private persons will be helped through the local churches, whose ministers will provide the Bishops Offices with information about the most vulnerable families based on the selection criteria presented above. The Bishops Offices will also decide on the amount which will be allocated to each family. After all necessary information has been collected, the Bishop’s Offices will send their grand total needs to AIDRom, which will transfer, according to its possibilities (depending on the funds received from ACT International) the requested amounts back to the Bishop Offices. In their turn, the Bishop’s Offices will send to each church the available funds, with the specification of the financial help which should be allocated per family. According to the size of financial assistance, each family will decide which are the most urgently needed construction items.

The procurement of the necessary items will be coordinated by the local church and its presbyterium, which will be responsible for finding the closest procurement site (local or regional) as well as the cheapest means of transportation. The (re)construction works will be carried out by each family with its own physical resources, or by appealing for volunteer help.

Infrastructure (bridges, water springs, channels, wells) will be rebuilt or repaired by the local Mayor’s Office, which will apply for financial assistance directly to AIDRom. After analysing the incoming request, based on the gravity of the situation, AIDRom will decide the amount which will be allocated to each community.

The Mayor’s Office will be advised on the most convenient procurement places for construction and technical equipment. For technical staff and transportation for the necessary work, the Mayor’s Office will use its own resources and request voluntary participation of the inhabitants.

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, MONITORING & REPORTING

Administration
As described above the local church presbyterium will be responsible for procuring the necessary construction materials from the least expensive sources for the affected families. All tasks of the presbyterium will be supervised by the local ministers, who will send regular reports to the Bishop’s Office. In its turn, the Bishop’s Office will transmit interim reports to AIDRom.

The local Mayors and Administrative Councils will be responsible for the rehabilitation of community interests and each local Mayor will report directly to AIDRom’s Emergency Unit in Bucharest.

Project Finance Management and Controls
AIDRom Emergency Unit will be responsible for finance management and will send its periodical and final report to ACT Coordinating Office.

Each Bishop’s Office will name a counsellor from the Bishop’s Council who will be responsible for receiving regular information/proof of exact disbursements, receipts, etc. from all of the church ministers to whom funds were allocated for distribution via the Bishops Office. This counsellor will send his reports and remarks to AIDRom. All families will be asked to sign a protocol which will confirm the type, quantity and current value of received materials

All disbursement of funds will be recorded in the official bookkeeping, and every allocation of funds will be authorised by the Mayors signature.

Project Monitoring Procedures
The Bishop’s Office will empower the responsible counsellor to make on-site inquiries and controls about the stage of implementation, use of funds, etc. AIDRom's Emergency Unit will also make such inquiries through its coordinating officer.

In each village, beside the Mayor who will be in charge with the supervision of the rehabilitation process, one member of the village council (the financial and economical advisor) will send financial reports to AIDRom, which will be signed also by the official bookkeeper of the Mayor’s Office.

IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE

Project Assessment: March 2000
Start Up: April 2000
Implementation: April – September 2000
Close Out: December 2000

COORDINATION

The whole coordination process will be done by AIDRom - through its Emergency Unit, together with the help of the Bishop’s Office participating in the aid program and the local Mayor’s Offices. AIDRom will continually be in contact with the implementing partners and will receive periodical reports about disbursements about the use of the allocated funds.

Coordination meetings will be held by AIDRom Emergency Unit once a month at various affected sites, with the participation of Bishop counsellors and Mayors from the affected regions in order to analyse the stage of reconstruction and rehabilitation process, to identify and overcame further needs or difficulties.

On-site coordination will be assured by the local church ministers and Mayors, who will be in charge of local responsibilities. Furthermore, the institutions involved in this process (AIDRom, the Romanian Orthodox Church, Churches, Local Leadership) will try to illicit the sympathy of Governmental institutions in order to raise their interest in emergency mitigation/training programs which will protect the civil population from such kind of disasters. Direct assistance from the Government will also be requested through the prefects who are the Government representatives in each county. Their support will be requested to acquire different social facilities for the rehabilitation process.

BUDGET

ESTIMATED EXPENSES

DIRECT ASSISTANCE

Shelter & reconstruction

Food security

PERSONNEL, ADMINISTRATION, OPERATIONS & SUPPORT

Staff Salaries & Support

Staff Travel

Communications

Vehicle Operations

Audit & Evaluation

Exchange rate: 1US$ = 19,890 ROL