Iraq Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #1 (FY16)

December 14, 2015

Highlights

GoI, humanitarian partners continue to respond to cholera outbreak

UN requests $861 million to address Iraq humanitarian needs in 2016

USG partner WFP reaches besieged cities in Anbar Governorate with emergency food assistance

USG provides nearly $70 million in additional aid, including winter-appropriate and other relief items

Key Developments

The Iraq Cholera Task Force—led by the Government of Iraq (GoI)—released a situation report on the countrywide cholera outbreak on December 3 that affirmed a consistent downward trend in the number of confirmed cholera cases. Since the outbreak began in mid-September, the GoI and its humanitarian partners have coordinated outbreak control activities, including an oral cholera vaccination campaign.

The UN released its 2016 Global Humanitarian Overview, a consolidated funding appeal covering humanitarian crises worldwide, on December 7. The overview includes a request for $861 million to support the most critical humanitarian assistance for an estimated 7.3 million out of 11 million people in need in Iraq.

On December 1, with USAID/FFP support, the UN World Food Program (WFP) distributed emergency food assistance to nearly 70,000 people in the cities of Haditha and Al Baghdadi, Anbar Governorate, which have been under siege by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces since March 2015. The siege has severely impaired access and exacerbated humanitarian needs in the two cities, according to relief agencies.

In recent months, the USG has contributed nearly $70 million in additional humanitarian assistance for conflict-affected Iraqis. The support provides seasonally appropriate items, such as winter clothing for approximately 550,000 children, to help affected populations prepare for the winter months. The assistance also includes hygiene kits, water storage containers, and solar lights for displaced and other vulnerable populations in Iraq. In addition, ongoing USG funding continues to provide other critical, life-saving assistance to the nearly 3.2 million people displaced inside Iraq, as well as Iraqis who have fled to neighboring countries.

INSECURITY, POPULATION DISPLACEMENT, AND HUMANITARIAN ACCESS

Violence in Iraq killed more than 1,000 civilians, including police personnel, and injured nearly 2,000 others in October and November, according to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). Baghdad Governorate experienced the highest number of recorded deaths and injuries during both months, although UNAMI notes that active conflict in Anbar continues to complicate its attempts to collect casualty figures for the governorate. UNAMI also reports an inability to verify casualties in multiple areas of the country due to insecurity or to confirm deaths resulting from secondary effects of conflict, such as exposure to the elements or lack of access to health care. As such, UNAMI’s figures represent an estimated minimum, with the actual number of casualties from the conflict likely higher.

Following heavy rainfall and resultant flooding in late October, the GoI declared a state of emergency in Baghdad Governorate on November 1. According to the UN, the floods affected at least 84,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), primarily in Anbar and Baghdad governorates. In Baghdad, sewage systems overflowed, and floodwaters damaged roads and power stations. Humanitarian personnel reported lesser flood impacts in Diyala, Salah ad Din, and Sulaimaniyah governorates. In response to the flooding, the GoI provided relief items, such as tents, while USAID/FFP partner WFP distributed emergency food rations in Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, and Salah ad Din.

According to USG partner the International Organization for Migration (IOM), ongoing return movements led to a slight decrease in the number of IDPs across Iraq in October, with the figure declining by approximately 25,500 people between September 29 and November 5. During the reporting period, approximately 5 percent of Kirkuk Governorate’s IDP population—more than 20,000 people—returned to areas of origin, while an estimated 8 percent of Salah ad Din Governorate’s IDPs—more than 12,500 people—returned. Nevertheless, population displacement in Iraq persists, and IOM identified more than 17,000 new IDPs in Ninewa Governorate between November 12 and December 5, the majority of whom were displaced by a Kurdish offensive to recapture the city of Sinjar, Ninewa, from ISIL forces.

As a result of improved security and living conditions, approximately 167,000 people—or nearly 28,000 previously displaced households—returned to Salah ad Din’s Tikrit District, between mid-June and early November, according to IOM. In April 2015, Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and allied militias regained control of Tikrit city and surrounding areas from ISIL, and the GoI began encouraging residents to return in June.

In late November, State/PRM partner the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) opened Nazrawa camp in Kirkuk’s Daquq District, which has sufficient capacity to host more than 8,400 IDPs. The new camp stands near UNHCR’s Laylan camp, which opened at the end of 2014 and currently houses nearly 8,000 IDPs. UNHCR notes that Nazrawa camp helps increase the capacity of Kirkuk to shelter IDPs until security conditions in their areas of origin, primarily in Diyala, Kirkuk, and Salah ad Din, improve sufficiently to warrant safe returns.

UNHCR opened Markazi IDP camp in the town of Amiriyah Fallujah, Anbar, on October 19. The new camp has the capacity to house approximately 3,000 displaced persons, increasing UNHCR’s camp-hosting capacity in Anbar to 6,000 people. UNHCR reports that the majority of Markazi’s residents fled fighting in the city of Ar Ramadi, Anbar, beginning in April, and had lived in schools or unfinished buildings or stayed with relatives in the area. The camp is located near Bzeibiz Bridge, a main access point between Anbar and Baghdad Governorate.

FOOD SECURITY

On December 1, WFP and its partner distributed emergency food assistance to nearly 70,000 people in the besieged cities of Haditha and Al Baghdadi, Anbar. The GoI donated 1,050 metric tons of rice, sugar, vegetable oil, and wheat flour, while USAID/FFP funded the distribution, logistics, and transportation of the assistance. According to WFP’s food-security monitoring data, the average cost of staple food items in Anbar increased by 10 percent from September to October; prices were particularly high in conflict-affected areas of the governorate, such as Haditha.

With financial support from USAID/FFP, WFP conducted a food security assessment in Iraq during September, gathering information from interviews of more than 1,400 people countrywide, evaluating household food consumption scores (FCS), a measure of household dietary diversity and the frequency of consumption that uses a scale of poor, borderline, or acceptable food consumption, where poor and borderline scores are considered food-insecure.

In Anbar, 18 percent of surveyed households reported poor or borderline levels of food consumption, whereas 4 percent of interviewed households nationwide indicated poor or borderline FCS. The WFP assessment also found deteriorating food security in Baghdad Governorate, where the percentage of food-insecure households increased from 2 percent in August to 6 percent in September.

In addition, the WFP assessment found that IDPs in Iraq continue to have lower FCS when compared to nondisplaced households. Among respondents, 15 percent of IDP families reported poor or borderline FCS, a figure five times higher than the average for non-displaced households. WFP’s findings also reveal that IDPs living in formal camps are relatively more vulnerable to food insecurity, with a higher percentage of IDPs in camps reporting poor or borderline food consumption than IDPs residing outside of formal camps.

In FY 2014 and 2015, USAID/FFP contributed more than $27 million to support WFP’s emergency operation in Iraq, which provides family food parcels, food vouchers, and immediate response rations (IRRs) to address IDP food needs. In November and December, WFP is providing two-month family food parcels to approximately 1.6 million people. To continue reaching the most vulnerable populations, WFP is distributing full rations to IDPs living in camps in central Iraq, while all IDPs elsewhere receive reduced WFP rations, complemented by GoI-provided food items. Further, in November, WFP reached more than 88,000 new IDPs and recent returnees in Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, Dohuk, Kirkuk, and Salah ad Din governorates with IRRs, each comprising portable ready-to-eat items in sufficient quantities to feed a family of five for three days.

HEALTH AND WASH

On December 3, the Iraq Cholera Task Force released a situation report on the cholera outbreak and noted the consistent downward trend in confirmed cholera case figures. As of November 22, Iraq’s Central Public Health Laboratory had confirmed 2,810 cholera cases in 17 of the country’s 18 governorates, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

The GoI, with the support of WHO and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), conducted the second round of an oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaign between December 7 and 10, targeting Iraqi IDPs and Syrian refugees living in 62 camps and settlements across 13 governorates. The OCV requires two doses administered at least two weeks apart, and the first round of the OCV campaign in November reached approximately 229,000 IDPs and refugees, or approximately 93 percent of the targeted population, according to WHO.

Besides the oral cholera vaccination campaign, the GoI and humanitarian partners have worked to improve populations’ access to safe drinking water, distribute point-of-use water purification supplies, and disseminate choleraprevention messages via social media and radio. In addition, ahead of the annual Arba’een pilgrimage to the city of Karbala, Karbala Governorate, which took place in late November and early December, the GoI, WHO, and other relief actors implemented activities to raise awareness of cholera among travelers to Iraq, enhanced disease surveillance at all points of entry, and trained additional health care workers in the identification and management of cholera cases. According to the GoI and relief agencies, the Arba’een pilgrimage, which brought an estimated 10 million pilgrims to Karbala, generated no increase in cholera cases.

With ongoing funding from FY 2015, USAID/OFDA supports a variety of health and WASH assistance in Iraq, including medical clinics and mobile health teams, health and hygiene education, sanitation infrastructure installation or rehabilitation, and the delivery of safe drinking water. Through implementing partners, USAID/OFDA-supported health assistance reaches approximately 2.8 million conflict-affected Iraqis, while its WASH support benefits an estimated 420,000 people.

LOGISTICS SUPPORT AND RELIEF COMMODITIES

In its 2015/2016 winterization plan, the Shelter Cluster—the coordinating body for humanitarian shelter activities, comprising UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other stakeholders—highlighted the vulnerability of Iraqi IDP households living without adequate accommodations, such as those living in the open, those living in unfinished or abandoned buildings, or those living in informal settlements, and recommended targeting winterspecific assistance to these households. The Shelter Cluster also advised relief organizations to focus winter assistance on IDP camps located in areas that experience severe winter conditions, including Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, and all three governorates of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), as well as on vulnerable groups, such as female- or elderly-headed households, households with unaccompanied children, and persons with disabilities. Through the winterization plan, Shelter Cluster members aim to reach IDPs with shelter weatherization kits, tent insulation kits, cash assistance, and winter-appropriate relief commodities, such as insulated blankets, mattresses, and stoves.

In preparation for the winter season in Iraq, where temperatures can drop below freezing even in the south, the USG has been working with humanitarian partners to identify and procure critical relief items that IDPs and other vulnerable populations need to cope with winter weather. On December 1, U.S. Consul General in Erbil Matthias Mitman and the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in Iraq participated in a distribution of USG-funded plastic sheeting to residents of an IDP camp in Erbil Governorate. Additional distributions of plastic sheeting and other relief items, such as winter-appropriate clothing, blankets, hygiene kits, kerosene heaters, and solar lights—supported by a nearly $70 million USG contribution—are expected to take place in Iraq in the coming weeks.

In late October, USG partner UNICEF launched its “Warm for Winter” campaign, delivering winter clothing, shoes, and blankets to more than 10,000 IDPs in Dohuk Governorate. UNICEF plans to distribute 650,000 sets of seasonally appropriate clothing for children ranging in age from birth to 14 years.

USG partner UNHCR also began its winter assistance program in late October and aims to reach 29,000 Iraqi IDP families throughout the IKR. In Arbat IDP camp, Sulaimaniyah Governorate, UNHCR provided each of the 1,500 IDP households with 200 liters of kerosene and seasonally appropriate items, such as blankets, plastic sheeting, and tent insulation kits. As of November 25, UNHCR had distributed sets of winter relief items, including six blankets, a kerosene container, a stove, and plastic sheeting to approximately 6,350 families in Baghdad, Dohuk, Diyala, Erbil, Najaf, and Sulaimaniyah governorates.

OTHER HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

In late September, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) announced an additional £20 million— approximately $30 million—contribution to provide medical care, safe drinking water, improved sanitation, shelter, cash support, and other essential assistance to displaced Iraqis. The new funding brings DFID’s assistance for the Iraq humanitarian response since the crisis began in mid-2014 to a total of £79.5 million, or approximately $120 million.

On December 8, the Government of Sweden signed a $4 million agreement with the UN Development Program (UNDP) to support stabilization activities in areas of Iraq where active conflict has subsided. The contribution, provided to UNDP’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilization, will support recovery activities, such as public infrastructure rehabilitation, grants for small businesses, and civil engagement and community reconciliation efforts, with an aim of improving living conditions and facilitating the return of displaced populations.

PUBLIC DONATION INFORMATION

The most effective way people can assist relief efforts is by making cash contributions to humanitarian organizations that are conducting relief operations. A list of humanitarian organizations that are accepting cash donations for disaster responses around the world can be found at www.interaction.org.

USAID encourages cash donations because they allow aid professionals to procure the exact items needed (often in the affected region); reduce the burden on scarce resources (such as transportation routes, staff time, and warehouse space); can be transferred very quickly and without transportation costs; support the economy of the disaster-stricken region; and ensure culturally, dietary, and environmentally appropriate assistance.

More information can be found at:
- USAID Center for International Disaster Information: www.cidi.org or +1.202.821.1999.
- Information on relief activities of the humanitarian community can be found at www.reliefweb.int.