In the second half of June 2010, heavy rainfalls in northern Moldova, resulted in peak flood level of the Prut river puting an extreme water pressure on the dam protecting the Moldovan valley. The breach of the dam on July 5 caused an extensive flood forcing the evacuation of more than 85 communities from 16 districts and affecting almost 10000 hectares of agricultural land. The initial accounts report 3000 people displaced, 850 houses affected with an additional 900 at risk, and damaged and destroyed infrastructure, including 17 bridges, 200 wells, 182 km of roads, 7 dams, educational and administrative buildings.
Following the request for assistance from the Government of Moldova on July 13, sent simultaneously to United Nations, European Union and the World Bank, GFDRR pledged USD 100,000 to support the joint Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA). On August 2, 2010 the PDNA mission was launched with an orientation workshop for experts from government agencies, UN, EU and the World Bank. The PDNA Secretariat chaired by the State Minister of Moldova oversees the assessment process and the coordination team includes representatives from Government of Moldova, the UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP and EU representatives along with the Country and Project Manager of the World Bank.
The multi-sectoral team worked under Government leadership consists of representatives of key ministries, the United Nations, the World Bank, and other partners. The sector teams collected and integrated data on damages, losses and needs from national and local sources. As part of the assessment process the team developed the recovery and reconstruction framework that also included recommendations on risk reduction and mitigation measures to improve Moldova's resilience to future disasters.
The initial assessment results were presented to the Government of Moldova and the final version of the report is expected by September 10th.