Rapid response to Um Al Nasser sewage disaster – USAID press release/Non-UN document

Rapid Response to Um Al Nasser Disaster

On the morning of 27 March, the Bedouin village of Um Al Nasser in northern Gaza was hit by an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. After the earth embankment around a sewage reservoir serving the village collapsed, flooding the area with raw sewage and mud, hundreds of houses, shacks, and livelihood structures were destroyed and some 250 families were left homeless. USAID, through Rafeed, moved quickly to provide assistance to these vulnerable families who lost their homes and most, if not all, of their possessions in the flood and were temporarily housed in UNRWA tents at a nearby camp.

USAID, through Rafeed, coordinated with UN bodies and NGOs spearheading the emergency response. Emergency assessment teams showed that, while basic commodities like food and water were being delivered, many families were in need of warm, sturdy clothing and gas cylinders for lighting and cooking. Rafeed staff in Gaza procured the needed goods from pre-vetted vendors and organized an efficient response within hours.

Multipurpose gas cylinders, equipped with lighting and cooking heads and a ten liter butane gas bottle, along with family clothing packs containing trousers, sweatsuits, sweaters, shirts, women's jallabia and shoes were delivered to beneficiaries.

Distribution was rapid and smooth. Eight Rafeed staff members, along with eight volunteers from Save the Children, and fifteen volunteers from the Life and Hope Association, worked hard to ensure packages reached the registered beneficiaries on 28 March, a little over a day after the disaster struck. Distribution began at 5:10pm and was completed by 9:30pm, during which time 235 of the packages had been distributed to beneficiaries. The remaining 15 were delivered the following morning, on 29 March.