The phase of mapping damage after floods and distribution of dryers and disinfection is behind us, we start with the payment of financial assistance to affected households.
Immediately after the devastating rains, when it was clear that the water has done a lot of damage, our teams went into the field and we also declared a public fundraiser. We visited 18 affected villages personally, we filled out questionnaires with the owners in 75 households, we distributed 117 disinfectant packages and 21 dehumidifiers, dryers or diesel heaters.
We have sorted out and evaluated the questionnaires from which we identified the final beneficiaries. We set the ratio and volume of assistance between heavily affected households, less affected households and municipalities. We are currently preparing donation contracts and we are going to signing meetings with owners of affected houses.
Summa summarum – about a month from the floods, we are in the phase where money from our generous donors is reaching the most affected families.
THE FLOODS DID NOT PASS US BY
Meteorological data over the past 150 years show that climate change also brings extreme rainfall and increased risk of local floods and inundations. Unfortunately, they are and will be a regular reality in Slovakia. Since we have been providing humanitarian aid in flood-affected areas for several years, we have also reacted to the September floods, which have affected many families and their homes. These were mainly people in up to 60 municipalities in Slovakia, especially in the north in the vicinity of Čadca, Záhorie and in the south in the vicinity of Komárno and Štúrovo.
Our colleague, emergency coordinator Ján Ostrolucky, who guided the flood team: “Since my scope of work includes, among other things, weather monitoring, I knew that floods can also come to Slovakia. When they really came, I was still working in Lebanon, so at first I only “worked” from behind the computer. We were preparing a procedure for what will happen when the water recedes and coordinated the field trips. However, in such emergency situations, we never know in advance what the final extent of the damage will be and whether it will be necessary to increase the capacity. We’d rather have prepared for a number of options.”
For the first aid of the victims of the floods, we have allocated the first 10 000 euros from our humanitarian fund of the Friends Club. The fund serves to help in sudden disasters or wars to get the most urgent assistance to victims in time.
We have been closely monitoring the flood situation from the first rainfall and as the rains have been quiet, our teams went to the field to map the extent of the damage and the need for assistance. In the meantime, we have published practical texts and manuals on the website on how to proceed during and after the floods.
“The role of humanitarian organisations occurs when the water falls, the affected territories remain damaged and contaminated, and people are suddenly confronted with what happened, what the water has destroyed.” Special situation adviser, Marián Cehelník.
However, we have been helping not only in the field, but also through the Infoline, as we have seen an increased demand for information. Our callers provided the latest information on the flood situation and evacuation zones on the callers on a daily basis, as well as instructions for immediate assistance or information about financial assistance – what species are available to flood victims and how they can obtain them. They also helped to fill in the application for subsidies for damaged property and mediate contacts to public institutions and collections. We have also made available, in the form of a questionnaire, the possibility to register as a volunteer in helping in flooded municipalities.
MAPPING OF AREAS
I have seen the optimism and viability of people who have accepted the situation as it came and tried to return to their normalcy as soon as possible. I also saw the despair in the eyes of those who arranged a cozy home for their families, and now they have been taking the mud out of it for days. The gratitude of the people stayed with me, as they understood on one hand that we made no promises, but on the other, they felt our sincere interest. And also the distrust of some residents of affected houses that needed to be persuaded that we are not fraudsters who came to the ribbon of their misfortune and vulnerabilities, that we did not come to search for sensations, but to ask and find out how we can help.
Emergency Coordinator, Ján Ostrolucký
On Tuesday, September 17, our teams were in the affected areas in Záhorie and Kysuce. They surveyed the most necessary needs of people affected by the floods, visited several villages where they talked to the local residents and mayors. The greatest demand was recorded for information, volunteers and material assistance. Almost everywhere, especially dryers were needed, and many municipalities were worried about the question of what to do with the drifting material.
On Wednesday, September 18, the first dehumidifiers were already being delivered to specific people. In Borinka, the water gave a hard time to an elderly woman whose house was washed by the local stream on two sides. She had several cellars and garages flooded. What a surprise it was for her when, less than 24 hours after our visit, we were ringing her doorbell with a dehumidifier which she immediately placed in the basement where she stores food. The remaining machines were taken over by the mayor of the village to be available to residents who needed to dry the dampened houses.
The second batch of machines went to the municipal office to Jablonová and we carried one dehumidifier directly to the family from the local Roma community, whose house was “captured” the most. They were very pleased, the water caused them really major damage to the whole property and part of the house.
On Thursday, September 19, we visited Radošovce, which was flooded by a relatively small stream from the neighbouring village during the floods. The most affected area was one street, and the Municipal Office had its basement and workshops with municipal tools flooded. We delivered dehumidifiers to the mayor, and since part of the village had flooded wells, we also brought them drinking water. We took more dehumidifiers to the village of Kuchyňa directly to the damaged households. In the following days, we mapped the situation and helped in Plavecký Štvrtok and the surrounding area of Devín, as well as in the Myjavské Kopanice region. In Vrbové and Nová Bošáca, we distributed disinfectants.
Another team of the People in Peril contacted and visited several municipalities in Kysuce. Colleague from Žilina, Nina Gubišová:
It was very helpful that we were in the field personally. People have seen that we are a real organization that is really interested in, who needs what. We have also explained several times how our collections work and that money from them will certainly be given to those who need it most.
THE QUESTIONNAIRES HELPED US
The next phase that followed the areas mapping was the identification of the most affected municipalities and the preparation of questionnaires, by which we investigated the extent of the damage and the ability to deal with the consequences. This is so that, on the basis of key criteria, we can distribute the aid specifically and to help those who need it the most. When the questionnaires were prepared for distribution, colleagues from various parts of Slovakia exchanged their official jobs for interviewers for a while, and in pairs they bypassed individual households. In such personal conversations, you will also learn what not otherwise… Often, interviews with owners of destroyed properties were very sad.
Katarína Barošová from Communication Department:
Somewhere the water flooded the cellars, elsewhere it destroyed the years grown gardens, and we also saw households that found themselves completely underwater and there was already a reconstruction literally from the ground up. They were tough to look at. In Stupava we parked in a sympathetic neighbourhood near relatively new apartments and went to look for a ground floor apartment, which was also completely destroyed. The equally destroyed owner let us in and she showed us the damage caused to her by a nearby spilled stream. The water was about half a meter high indoors. The headboard of the bed on a stained-wall in the empty room indicated there was once a bedroom. Now a dehumidifier stood in the room and ran at full speed, as well as in other empty rooms. Colleague Terezka and the owner sat out in the gazebo and they were accompanied by a friendly cat, the owner’s only reason for a weak smile. The other cat wandered somewhere during the floods and did not return. The losses that cause rains can not always be measured by numbers.
Thanks to a number of financial donations, which began to increase immediately after the announcement of the public collection from generous individuals and companies, we are able to mitigate the consequences of the devastating September floods in Slovakia. We still have a lot of work ahead of us before we can process this phase. From our humanitarian fund of the Club of Friends we have also allocated 10 000 euros to help people in the Czech Republic through the partner organization of the People in Peril.
Thank you for all the gifts and we will inform you about their further use.
Here are a few pictures from the field. The “whole” People in Peril involved. The director, colleagues from the Ukrainian mission, community workers, HR, fundraising and communication department, methodists… In short, everyone who could help.
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