Antananarivo. Friday 28 January 2022. After Tropical Storm Ana hit Madagascar last Saturday, local businesses are providing emergency assistance to families displaced by flooding in the capital city Antananarivo.
The Madagascar Private Sector Humanitarian Platform (PSHP), a Connecting Business initiative (CBi) Member Network, is mobilizing local companies and working in collaboration with national and local authorities to assist thousands of families currently sheltering in schools and sports facilities across the city.
As of Friday, PSHP members have managed to provide hot meals to 11,500 people in several displacement sites in Antananarivo. Other emergency assistance included cooking utensils, solar kits, mattresses, water and sanitation systems.
“We are hoping that these hot meals will bring comfort to the families displaced by Tropical Storm Ana. We have organized food assistance for the next two weeks, hoping that by then flooding will recede and families will go back to their homes,” said Isabelle Salabert, PSHP Executive Director, as she was participating in a food distribution on a displacement site on Monday.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported that at least 34 people have died and over 62,000 have been affected by intense rainfall that caused flooding, landslides and loss of life in the country. More than 35,200 people have been displaced or preventively evacuated in Antananarivo alone. They are sheltering in 62 displacement sites established by the authorities.
According to Vio Razafindrakoto, PSHP Programme Coordinator, the current operation is a race against time as tropical storm Batsirai is set to hit the island in the coming days: “we are busy coordinating the support provided by local businesses, in collaboration with Government’s guidelines.”
PSHP is a member of the Connecting Business initiative, which was established by OCHA and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is dedicated to supporting the private sector before, during and after disasters.
For more information, please contact CBi Program Coordinator Kareem Elbayar at elbayar@un.org. For media inquiries, contact CBi Communications Specialist Priscilla Lecomte at lecomte@un.org.