Contingency stock, evacuation capacity and cyclone early warning message

Households in the flood-prone area: 3,200 (16,000 people). Affected: 60% = 1,920 households, 9,600 people.

With 60 hours' notice, purchasing and delivering the top-up before landfall is not realistic: prioritise the distribution of the existing stock to the most exposed fokontany (F3, F1, F9), activate agreements with other cluster actors and prepare orders for the response.

Red zone: 370 households, i.e. 1,850 people. Capacity: (840 + 630 + 1,120) / 3.5 = 2,590 / 3.5 = 740 people. Shortfall: 1,110 people, i.e. 3,885 m² missing (area needed 6,475 m²).

Solutions: hosting with host families outside the flood-prone area, identified in advance by the local committees; other solid buildings (fokontany offices, warehouses) after checking the structure; allocation by fokontany to reduce distances; priority in the sites for persons with disabilities, older people, pregnant women and households with young children; sex-segregated, lit latrines and safe spaces. A higher density can be tolerated for a few days, but it must be acknowledged and managed (ventilation, water, epidemic risk).

SMS (example, 129 characters): "CYCLONE ALERT: landfall expected in 2 days. Red zone: get ready to evacuate. Listen to the radio and follow your fokontany chief."

Radio (example): who is speaking (local disaster risk management committee, with the authorities); what (a cyclone is expected to hit the coast in about two days, with violent winds and flooding); who is concerned (residents of the flood-prone areas of the ten fokontany, in particular the red zone); what to do now (put documents, water, food and medicines in a waterproof bag; reinforce the roof; move belongings to higher places); when and where to evacuate (as soon as the fokontany chief gives the order, to the school, the church or the secondary school, or to relatives outside the area); mutual help (help older or disabled neighbours, report people who need help to move); official source and regular rebroadcast. Short sentences, no jargon, instructions in the imperative, repetition of the essentials.

Confidential list of names kept by each fokontany committee, shared only with the evacuation teams; a pair of neighbours or volunteers assigned to each person; means of transport identified (carts, vehicles, stretchers); dissemination of the message through accessible channels (home visits, sign language or visual materials, relays for visually impaired people); early evacuation of these people before the general order; reserved, accessible places in the sites; continuity of treatment and assistive devices; roll-call check on arrival; consultation of organisations of persons with disabilities in preparedness.