NY Times

“Stung by the lack of vaccines to fight the West African Ebola epidemic, a group of prominent donors announced Wednesday that they had raised almost $500 million for a new partnership to stop epidemics before they spiral out of control.

The partnership, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, will initially develop and stockpile vaccines against three known viral threats, and also push the development of technology to brew large amounts of vaccine quickly when new threats…arise……Bill Gates, founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest initial donors…has often predicted that the catastrophe most likely to kill 10 million people in the near future is a pandemic rather than nuclear war, terrorism, famine or natural disaster.

The other donors….include the governments of Japan and Norway, and Britain’s Wellcome Trust. Each is putting up $100 million to $125 million over five years; Germany, India and the European Commission are expected to announce donations soon.

Six major vaccine makers — GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi and Takeda — joined in the coalition as “partners” rather than donors, as did the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders……”

https://nyti.ms/2cWw9Uk

The Guardian

NY Times

NY Times

• “….More than one million people in Myanmar identify as Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim group living mainly in Rakhine State on the country’s western coast.
• The Myanmar government says the Rohingya are not a genuine ethnic group but are Bengali migrants whose presence is a legacy of colonial times. In a country where anti-Muslim sentiment is widespread, the Rohingya are often persecuted.
• Rohingya are denied citizenship, freedom to travel, accesses to education and other benefits in Myanmar.
• According to human rights groups, the Myanmar military has entered Rohingya villages and shot people at random, razed houses, and systematically raped girls and women. The government denies allegations of genocide.
• Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya live in squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh. The government there denies that Rohingya from Myanmar are ethnic Bengalis and has tried to close its borders to the migrants……”

NY Times

Reuters

“….Malaysia’s intervention in the Rakhine crisis marks a break with ASEAN members’ tradition of non-intervention in each other’s internal affairs…..”

TIME

Credit:  UNHCR

NY Times

CDEMA: Caribbean Disaster Management Agency

The CDEMA CU maintains contact with the National Disaster Offices (NDO) of Haiti and The Commonwealth of The Bahamas regarding response to the impact from Hurricane Matthew.

(Note: CDEMA CU Situation Reports present official data as issued by the National Emergency Operations Centre of an affected State. Data and information presented by the press, social media and other unofficial source may differ.)

Haiti
The Civil Protection Directorate (DPC) continues to coordinate the response efforts through the National Emergency Operations Centre. Humanitarian coordination meetings have been held with key government and external agencies. On 5th October 2016, a joint team of the DPC, UNDAC and MINUSTAH conducted an aerial survey of the southern departments, Nippes and Grand Anse in order to have a first estimate of the damage. The NEOC reports (Situation Report #5 as of 6th October 2016 at midnight) that the following initial impacts have been confirmed:

• Dead: 271
• Missing: 3
• Injured: 186
• People evacuated and in shelters: 61,537
• People evacuated and sheltering with family: 589
• Houses highly damaged: 25,160
• Houses destroyed: 500
• Family affected: 115,00
• Schools affected: 178
• Agriculture (including livestock farming) highly impacted

These figures are likely to change as further assessments are conducted.

Priority Needs

• Distribution of water, food and drugs to people in temporary shelters and communities.
• Clearing of roads in Nippes, North-East, West, South and South-East departments
• Continued care for people in shelters (urgent).
• Aerial reconnaissance of affected areas
• Restoration communication channels, including major transport arteries.
• Deployment of teams for multi-sectoral assessments.
• Disease surveillance particularly for waterborne diseases and other risks of epidemics.

Updates on Situation

• Sectoral assessments have begun in departments in the South, supported by UNDAC
• Humanitarian assistance for affected populations is being mobilized and distributed
• The national maritime agency of Haiti (SEMANAH) has lifted the restriction on marine traffic in the Gulf of Gonave, but still maintains the measure in the areas of the South coast.
• Road access has been restored between Port-Hi and Port-à-Piment and between Anse-à-Veau and Baradères via Petit-Trou de Nippes.
• Shelters in the Southeast department are closed and the shelterees have returned home. However shelters in the Southeastern department continue to receive new shelterees.
• United States State Department, through a military mission, has delivered non-food aid to support the response
• The Government of Haiti has provided each Department with between 1 and 2 million Haitian gourds to support initial response and recovery efforts.
• Humanitarian aid was received from Venezuela inclusive of 3,000 blankets, 3,000 raincoats, more than 3,600 kg of sardines, 800 mattresses
• Information continues to be issued to the public by the NEOC through various avenues including social media. An information helpline has been set up for national and international media.

REGIONAL ACTIONS:
The Regional Coordination Plan (RCP) remains activated and the Regional Coordination Centre (RCC) at the CDEMA CU has been activated. At the request of the Government of Haiti and based on priority needs identified, CDEMA CU will deploy a 6 member CARICOM Operational Support Team (COST) to Haiti on Friday, October 7, 2016. This team will support Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) coordination in Jérémie and Les Cayes, two settlements most affected by Hurricane Matthew. The team will be led by Brigadier General (Ret’d) Earl Arthurs and supported by technical personnel from CDEMA Participating States. The team will be accompanied by a journalist from the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). The Coordinating Unit (CU) has placed on standby other support arrangements for Haiti. Additional actions will be guided by Damage Assessments and Needs Analysis (DANA).

Three (3) Rapid Needs Assessment Teams (RNAT) have been deployed, at the request of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to support damage and needs assessments in northern Bahamas. The teams are lead by Ms. Joanne Persad, Preparedness and Response manager at the CDEMA CU and include representation from: Caribbean Media Corporation, Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA); Government of Canada, Pan American Health Organization, Private Sector, Representatives of the CDEMA Participating States, UNOCHA.

The CDEMA CU has undertaken the following actions:

• Maintained regular contact with impacted Participating States Haiti, and The Bahamas.
• A CARICOM Operational Support Team (COST) will arrive in Haiti on Saturday 8th October 2016. Three (3) Rapid Needs Assessment Teams (RNAT) will arrive in The Bahamas on Saturday 8th October 2016 to support assessments in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Andros islands. The CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit (CDRU), the CARICOM Disaster Assessment and Coordination (CDAC) team and the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams remain on standby.
• Discussions continue with the Sub-Regional Focal Points (SRFPs) on potential initial support i.e. Trinidad and Tobago – SRFP (Southern), Barbados – SRFP (Central) and Antigua – SRFP (Eastern). Available support to include marine assets, human resources for deployment, security, Search and Rescue (SAR) teams, Regional Warehouse stocks and initial dispatch of humanitarian aid. Jamaica has indicated that support personnel from the Jamaica Defense Force and Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management are available and on alert for supporting RRM deployment.
• Discussions continue to be held with regional and international partners on potential areas of support to any impacted Participating State.
• A briefing with the Regional Response Mechanism (RRM) partners in the North-Western region will be conducted on Saturday, 8th October, 2016.

Partners in the North-Western Caribbean have initiated the following actions:

• The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)

• Has confirmed that the Emergency Relief Grant (USD 200,000 per impacted State) will be available to Haiti and The Bahamas. The CDEMA Coordinating Unit (CU) will assist affected states in preparing the application for the grant to expedite the process.

• European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO)

• In addition to the initial amount of EUR 255 000 to fund humanitarian assistance for those most affected in the Caribbean, an additional 1.5 M Euros have been assigned for the response in Haiti (Total = 1.755.000 Euros in Humanitarian Assistance). ECHO has also reinforced its office in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) with one rapid response coordinator and one security/logistics officer.
• The EU’s Copernicus emergency management service is providing satellite maps to assess damage and to identify the most affected populated areas.
• The EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated in response to a request for assistance from the Government of Haiti. An EU Civil Protection Team, composed of 10 experts from five countries (DK, FI, FR, RO, SE) and one ERCC Liaison Officer, were deployed to Haiti on 6 October. One EU Civil Protection expert from Finland has also been assigned to the UNDAC team.
• An EU Civil Protection Team (EUCPT) has been deployed based on an official request for assistance from the Government of Haiti; estimated departure from the countries of origin is Thursday, 07 October 2016.
• The European Emergency Response Capacity has been triggered to deploy two Water Purification Modules (both able to purify 250 000 litres of water per day) registered by France. The UK and Spain have offered almost 7 000 water purification units, as well as various water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) items as in-kind assistance (e.g. jerry cans, tarpaulins, buckets, solar lights).

• Global Affairs Canada (GAC)

• Deployed 3 staff members to Haiti (Department of National Defense)
• Deployed an airport assessment specialist to support the RNAT

• International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC)

• 6.8 million Swiss francs emergency appeal to enable the IFRC to support the Haitian Red Cross Society (HRCS) to assist 50,000 people affected by Hurricane Matthew for 12 months. Response will focus on Health; WASH; Shelter (including Household non-food items) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
• The Haitian Red Cross Society (HRCS) prepositioned non-food items (including WASH and health relief items) in the south and southeast departments.
• HRCS will focus on the worst affected departments of Sud, Grand Anse, Nippes, Sud-est, Ouest and Nord-ouest.

• International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

• ITU is deploying 20 SAT Phones to Haiti to assist restoration of communications in cut off areas in Haiti. The equipment will be arriving in Port-au-Prince from Geneva via France on Thursday, October 6.
• The equipment is being accompanied by ITU personnel.

• Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

• Will reinforce team in Haiti with additional UNDAC team members and intend to open two field locations in the south.

• The Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO)

• Has activated its Preparedness and Response Plan for Emergencies and Disasters for Haiti, Jamaica and Bahamas. 11 Regional Response Team Experts have been deployed to 4 countries: Haiti (4), Bahamas (3), Jamaica (3), and Cuba (1).

• The Regional Security System (RSS)

• The RSS Airwing available to conduct reconnaissance flights and support deployment of relief supplies and personnel if necessary.

• World Food Programme (WFP)

• WFP has 25 tons of food in Jeremie (Grand-Anse) for distributions to start immediately. The food rations will enable 9,000 people to meet their immediate food needs for one week
• Taking advantage of the support offered by OFDA, 2MT of food and one generator are ready to be sent by helicopter to Jeremie for immediate distribution. The food commodities include rice, pulses and oil.
• Ten international experienced Programme and Logistic WFP staff arrived in Port au Prince on October 6th
• WFP is airlifting 30MT of High Energy Biscuits (HEBs) from Dubai
• WFP is deploying 5 teams to conduct an Emergency Food Security Assessment in the most affected departments of Grand-Anse, South, South-East, North-West, and Nippes. Preliminary data will be available on Saturday October 8th and a final report on Tuesday October 11th.
• A team composed of one Logistic and one Programme international officer will be deployed to Jeremie and Les Cayes to support the assessment and the food security efforts coordination.
• WFP has deployed 6 mobile storage units in Port au Prince to stock NFIs for the global humanitarian community. One will be deployed to Les Cayes and one to Jeremie.