MINUTES WASH CLUSTER 6th FLOOD EMERGENCY MEETING KP

MINUTES WASH CLUSTER 6th FLOOD EMERGENCY MEETING KP


(Minutes of the 63rd WASH Cluster Meeting)

Date: 01 September 2010 – 11:30 Hrs

Venue: LG & RDD, KP, PESHAWAR

The 63rd meeting of WASH Cluster KP (6th WASH Cluster Flood Emergency meeting) was held on 01-09-2010 at 11:30 am in the LG &RDD, Peshawar. The LG & RDD (Mr. Said Rehman, CWC), PHED (Mr. Khan Zeb) and WASH CLUSTER COORDINATOR (Mr. Jamal Shah) jointly chaired the Cluster meeting. The joint chair welcomed the participants and presented the WASH flood response overview on behalf of Govt as follows.


OVERVIEW:

Mr. Said Rehman:

He said that things have not changed much as compared to last week except that WASH cluster have been informed of flood affects in districts as Tank, D.I.Khan & Kohistan and PDMA had requested the cluster to respond immediately. Power supply has restored in parts of MKD Division but due to low voltage some of the tube wells are still operated on heavy-duty generators he added. He also said that partners have discontinued the water tankering support in Swat after restoration of power supply in Mingora; they were requested to review this decision in view of high demands. He informed the forum that all government departments are busy in Damaged Need Assessment (DNA) with technical support of World Bank & Asian Development Bank as the deadline is 3rd September 2010. He said that this DNA exercise would be indirectly helpful in gathering the data WASH damages. He also said that WASH working group in Charsadda has streamlined its activities through regular meetings; Other WASH W.G are established at Swat, D.I. Khan & Kohat he added. but still problems in other affected districts to activate WWG. We need to argue in the GCC meeting at the district level for formation of a dedicated WWG for better coordination and dedicated approach.



Mr. Jamal Shah:

He said that he is back in Peshawar as WCC and during the last one month he personally was following up. He revealed that the AWD situation is alarming in Tank, D.I.Khan & in Kohistan. He informed the forum that in Tank AWD is 21% of the total consultations and compared it with last year in these days as: last year total AWD patients in KPK in these days were 300 per day & now its 4000 AWD patients per day; all flood affected areas needs quality WASH intervention he concluded. He suggested blanket chlorination of every source of water and sought help of LG & RDD and PHED in this regard. He informed the forum that 65% of water supply to the people is through LGRDD & PHED while the remaining 35% utilize open wells, springs, hand pumps or other own arrangements and this needs attention. He suggested distribution of Aqua tabs/ PUR sachets to communities. He also informed the forum about approx 15 water filtration plants donated to PDMA and expressed his concerns that these water filtration plants should not be dumped idle & should be utilized where ever they are needed as in Tank, D.I.Khan or Kohistan and be regularly monitored by the line agencies. He also expressed his concerns over lack of NGOs response in Tank; he compared it with Nawshehra/Charsadda and informed the forum that its ratio is 1:20.

He suggested formation of Technical Working Group to look into all these matters & INGOs/NNGO’s having presence in Tank, D.I.Khan & Kohistan will be preferred to be part of this TWG. About Sanitation he suggested & recommended soap distribution because meeting millions of hygiene kits demand at the moment is very difficult. He maintained that soap is the main medium to break the diseases cycle and its blanket distribution be ensured by every one in field. About hygiene promotion he said that through FM radios messages may be conveyed and even pamphlets can be distributed through WFP with the distribution of ration to the affectees to stay as possible as clean.

UPDATES:

WCC informed the forum that 4.3 million peoples are affected in KPK and for WASH Cluster all the affected areas are target areas, every where in the affected areas, water is contaminated but we have to see the needy and red alert areas. He informed the forum that McRAM results be available today or tomorrow. He also informed the major findings of McRAM assessment as:

1. Increase in trend of open defecation;

2. Not using soap for hand washing;

3. Low understanding about safe drinking water.



FUNDING:

WCC said that donors directly fund a number of organizations and PIFERP for KPK was estimated at 27.5 million US dollars, other mechanisms ERF, Rapid fund of USAID/OFDA etc are also available. He suggested prioritization of funds as Cluster and said that projects are submitted mostly for Charsadda & Nowshera referring to preliminary mapping exercise he mentioned that 20 to 25 agencies are working in Nowshera/ Charsadda, but only 2 in D. I .Khan and none in Kohistan. He requested all donors to prioritize the funding.



PIFERP: WCC informed the forum that PIFERP was launched on 12th August, 2010 for one month and its revisions are in progress and will be finalized before 8th September, 2010. he promised to send an e-mail to the Cluster about the timeline of PIFERP. He suggested a review committee for PIFERP consisting of those agencies not interested in PIFERP projects and consists of 7 members as: 2 from INGOs, 2 from NNGOs, 2 from donors and WCC as the focal point.

In response to a query WCC said that if the project is not on OPS it means that the project is not selected.

ISSUES:

WCC requested the partners to share their updates on 3 W matrix.

1. World Vision International: WVI representative pointed out the issues of duplication and suggested that sharing of lessons learnt.

2. CARE International: CARE Int’l representative pointed out the issue of actual needy pockets in the affected areas be prioritized for water filtration plants & educating the masses on the use of Aqua Tabs.

3. PHED: The joint chair pointed out the issue of sharing of W.H.O & PCRWR reports with PHED on regular basis. PCRWR was requested to send a copy of their mailed reports to DS (TECH) PHED KP for his record and necessary action.

4. Mr. Niaz of CARE pointed out the issue of turbidity before the installation of water filtration plants. Matter was referred to TWG for redressal.

W Q Testing:

In the absence of W.H.O one of the attendees of Health Cluster meeting reported about the AWD cases as: of the total consultancies AWD is 11%, ARTI is 10%, Skin diseases 9% and others 68%. WCC commented that if AWD is 21% in Tank then we must investigate the exact location in Tank and prioritize the water supply, sanitation & hygiene response in that particular area.

AoB:

• Mr. Niaz of CARE Int’l pointed out the changed topography of flood affected areas due to flood debris and requested for the removal of debris from streets and of stagnant flood water in ponds to eradicate mosquitoes breeding places. He also argued to address issue of community owned water supply sources.

• Frequency of once a week WASH Cluster meeting agreed (on every Wednesday at 11:30 hrs) in LG & RDD.

• WCC emphasized to attend Districts WASH W.G meetings.

- The End-