During the past 40 years, flood frequency has largely increased in West Africa. In August 2010, torrential rains caused severe flooding in Benin. The floods caused extensive damage to housing, schools, health centers, roads, market places, places of worship, drinking water supply, sanitation and other goods and public services.
The 2010 inundations in Benin were caused by a series of concurring factors, such as the exceptional pluviometry level (in terms of volume, intensity and periodicity) coupled with the unification of the two rainy seasons that caused rain to fall incessantly for 8 months and the inversion of the direction of the current at the ocean/river estuary slowing the efflux of the water into the sea. This led to major flooding of the main rivers, the Niger and the Ouémé, which reached levels three times higher than in 2009.
In addition to this, human lack of prevention and response capacity exacerbated the impact of the floods. The sewerage and drainage systems were inadequate and the capacities at the national and local level were not sufficient to manage an event of this magnitude. As a result of the inundations 680,000 people were reported to have lost their livelihoods and 46 people were reported to have died.
On October 1, 2010, the Government of Benin (GOB) requested the international community’s support to assess the damages, losses and post-disaster needs and to join reconstruction and recovery efforts. The World Bank, with the financial and technical support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and with the financial support of AusAID, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden, quickly responded to the government’s request and fielded a multi-sectoral team of experts joined by major international agencies. The evaluation mission was conducted from November 18 to December 13, 2010 in Cotonou and other areas of the country hit by floods.
The resulting post disaster damage, loss and needs assessment (PDNA) report, prepared jointly by a team led by the Government of Benin (GOB), the World Bank (WB), the United Nations (UN) and the European Commission (EC), estimated the damages and losses to infrastructure, shelter, and livelihoods at 127,1 billion CFA francs (approximately US$262 million) or about 2.8% of Benin’s GDP, and caused a deflection of 0.8 percentage points with respect to the September 2010 estimates. The agricultural sector was affected most; about 50,764 ha of crops were destroyed bearing 26.7 billion CFA francs in total damages and losses. It was also estimated that the loss of livelihood would increase the poverty rate by 0.7 percent, corresponding to 61,418 individuals.
On the basis of the PDNA, the structural causes of the floods were identified with the ultimate aim to develop medium and long term flood-reduction strategies and avoid the recurrence of future flooding.
The PDNA report contains a general strategy for institutional strengthening aimed at increasing the capacity of flood risk management (in terms of prevention, risk and response capacity) and governance (improved regulatory framework and greater accountability of the local communities).
The PDNA presents concrete responses in terms of action plans that must be implemented without delay, in order to relieve affected populations, who become more vulnerable year after year.