Gaza Emergency – IASC WASH (Water, sanitation and health) Cluster – UNICEF weekly situation report (No. 5)

General situation

According to figures from CMWU/PWA on the 19^th of January 50,000 persons were completely without access to water and an additional 100,000 were virtually without water, receiving water only every 5 or 6 days. Areas without water include Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya, Az Zaitoun, Jabalia and eastern Khan Younis. CMWU/PWA estimates that without getting additional repair materials into Gaza these people will remain without water, since major repairs can not take place due to lack of materials. WHO reports there are no water and sanitation disease outbreaks, and that the microbial water quality remains within established limits.

WASH cluster humanitarian response

Drinking and domestic water

PHG, Oxfam and ACF continue with water distribution. Oxfam has distributed 3,400 m³ of drinking water during between February 10^th and 19^th, with approximately 6 litres/person/day to around 60,000 beneficiaries. ACF have been able to increase their distribution due to an increased number of water tankers and they distributed 2,199 m³ of domestic water between February 13^th and 18^th, with a total number of 20,077 of beneficiaries receiving approximately 22 litres/person/day.

Islamic relief is distributing water to schools with approximately 8,000 beneficiaries. Save the Children is continuing installation of plastic water tanks in Shokat as Sufi and Beit Lahyia. They also continue with installations of 120 household water pumps in Beit Lahyia, which will benefit 840 persons, as well as rehabilitating water house connections in Beit Hanoun for 100 houses, or 700 beneficiaries. In Beit Hanoun they are rehabilitating water lines for 4,000 beneficiaries.

Sanitation

Two teams from ACF continue working on cleaning Beit Lahyia Wastewater Treatment Plant as well as cleaning the damaged areas of Gaza City’s wastewater treatment plant and assisting the CMWU technical staff in maintaining the water and wastewater networks.

Solid waste

COOPI continue with solid waste management in Gaza City. The solid waste collection is done by the local population using Cash-for-Work, and this benefits 150 people. ACF is working on cleaning up debris on the streets in Beit Lahiya and Gaza City. CARE International is also in the process of setting up a waste management and rubble removal programme.

The WASH Cluster is currently discussing with a specialised waste management NGO, Disaster Waste Recovery (DWR), to undertake a needs assessment in Gaza and to propose an action plan for WASH partners. COOPI have expressed an interest in hosting DWR for the period of the assessment, details are being finalised.

Hygiene and NFIs

ACF is distributing family hygiene kits and water kits in partnership with UNICEF and Union of Agricultural Working Committees. 800 hygiene kits and 400 water kits have been distributed since 27^th of January. Relief International distributed 850 hygiene kits to approximately 6,000 beneficiaries in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Northern Gaza. Oxfam distributed 655 hygiene kits between February 11^th and 19^th to 4585 beneficiaries. Save the Children continue with health awareness campaigns in Beit Hanoun, Shokat as Sufi and Beit Lahyia with approximately 4,000 beneficiaries.

WASH cluster activities

The WASH cluster has recruited WASH Cluster focal point, Graham Henderson, for Gaza. The Gaza WASH focal point will be based with Oxfam GB and is currently on an induction in Jerusalem. Graham will be arriving in Gaza as soon as the relevant authorisations are in place. The recruitment for a local information manager is ongoing and will be finalized during the coming week. Recruitment has also started for a WASH Cluster Coordinator to replace Tim Forster, who will return to the RRT² pool.

Due to the major problems around the access of materials into Gaza, the WASH Cluster is setting up an advocacy group in order to address this issue. WASH partners are currently being consulted on the best way to set up an advocacy initiative, and this work will be undertaken in coordination with the E-WASH advocacy group, which is currently advocating on issues related to the drought in the West Bank.

Both CMWU and PWA (including 40 Palestinian children) will be attending the World Water Forum in Istanbul from 16^th – 22^nd March, and will use the occasion to discuss the situation in Gaza http://www.worldwaterforum⁵.org/

WASH Cluster meetings for Ramallah/Jerusalem will now take place on a bi-weekly basis. The next meeting is planned for 5^nd March at 11h00 in PWA Ramallah. The Gaza WASH Cluster meetings will continue on a weekly basis.

A training on a new input tool for the agency activities, supplied by OCHA, was held in Gaza last Wednesday. A training in Jerusalem is planned for next week.

Two new sections have been added to the WASH cluster web page (http://www.ochaopt.org/cluster/clusters.php?domain=6), in order to publish situation reports and other documents from partners. All agencies are encouraged to send any documents they want posted on the website to WASH cluster information manager Nina Odling (nodling@unicef.org).

Constraints

The main constraint is related to the access of materials into Gaza. No major repairs can take place and many projects are delayed. Most urgent priorities currently are pipes, cement and fittings. CMWU and key WASH partners have recently updated the priority WASH materials list for Gaza. The WASH cluster is working together with the Logistics cluster, OCHA and other key partners to advocate to the Israeli Authorities for these materials to be allowed in, and from their side, CMWU and PWA are currently discussing the access issue with the Israeli authorities.

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¹WASH Cluster Rapid Response Team (RRT)

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact:

Tim Forster

WASH Cluster Coordinator

tforster@unicef.org 054 47787682

Subha Ghannam

e-WASH Coordinator

subha@phg.org 059 9644868

Graham Henderson

Gaza WASH Cluster focal point

graham@notomys.com

054 5865985

Nina Odling

WASH Information Manager

nodling@unicef.org 054 7787683