PRESS RELEASE

USAID Provides Flood Assistance to Mali

BAMAKO, Mali. – On October 6, 2007, the  U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Mali, and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) /Mali, signed a Grant Agreement, - providing $50,000 (approximately CFA 23,000,000) in flood assistance  to Mali.  The grant will be administered by CRS and its partner Caritas Mali. The money will be used to distribute food to families displaced by flooding and their host families, rehabilitate schools occupied by some of these families, clean school latrines and provide school supplies for flood-affected school children.  The assistance is in response to a request for assistance from the Government of Mali through the Office of Civil Protection following recent flooding across the country. CRS has contributed an additional $19,520, for a total of $69,520 (CFA 31,979,200).

This funding is designed to assist with relief in the flood-affected regions of Ségou and Koulikoro. USAID Mali personnel are monitoring the situation and coordinating action with local authorities, the Office of Civil Protection in Mali, and CRS/Mali and Caritas staff who are implementing the program on the ground.

Heavy rainfalls since July have caused flooding across Mali, particularly in the regions of Kayes, Koulikoro, Ségou, Mopti, Sikasso, and Gao, affecting over 42,000 people. The floods also caused the collapse of houses, damaged roads, washed away bridges, and destroyed crops and livestock. Most displaced families were taken in by their extended families, though many families sought shelter in schools for several weeks, causing Malian Government officials to postpone the start of the school year countrywide.

The flood assistance package in Bla (Segou region)  and Béléko (Koulikoro region) will incorporate cereal distribution to approximately 1,200 families and distribution of school supplies to 2,600 school-aged children. Moreover, 44 classrooms in the eight schools that hosted flood-struck families will be rehabilitated while school latrines will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected to ensure hygienic conditions for the returning school children.

USAID Mali continues to work with the central government representatives and local authorities, as well as implementing agencies and other UN relief agencies like the UNICEF and the World Food Program, to ensure that U.S. emergency assistance is delivered to those most affected by the floods and meets their most pressing and urgent needs.