Hello everyone,
You’re maybe aware of the extensive flooding in Dili and other parts of Timor.
The impact so far has been 21 deaths, and greater than 2000 households impacted. There are several thousand in emergency evacuation centres in Dili. Conditions at the evacuation centres are crowded, but the government and other partners have started coordinating the response.
The public electricity supply has been down or erratic in many parts of Dili, complicating attempts to communicate and coordinate among us. The timing couldn’t be worse: we’re still facing the largest numbers of daily Covid-19 cases, and the emergency evacuation centres are not built for strict infection prevention and control.
Within Maluk Timor, at least 7 of our staff have been directly affected. The severity has ranged from near-collapse of the house to moderate water damage to property. Thankfully, there have been no deaths.
Our HIV clinic has been inundated. Some water damage to drugs, testing kits, furniture.
Maluk Timor’s response thus far has been….
- Declaring ‘emergency’ and activating our La Lina Preparedness Plan
- Stopped ‘routine’ work for 3 days
- We are focusing first on ensuring the safety and recovery of our staff, and positioning ourselves for responding to the wider needs safely (respecting Covid).
It stopped raining this morning, but the sky right outside my window now looks undecided.
If the weather holds, the community will be able to rapidly shift from the “acute response” (rescuing property, moving to emergency shelters, ensuring water and food for next few days) to the “recovery” phase (moving back home, cleaning, rebuilding).
That’s when we’ll see more diarrheal diseases, dengue, and another spike in Covid cases.
Thanks for any support you are able to offer.
Dr Raj
