The comprehensive needs assessment activities for debris and waste removal operations began on 29.09.2019. Two working groups have been formed to survey the villages that are affected in the western and eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor Governorate.
We planned to survey 35 villages in a plan that ends at the end of November, but on 20.11.2019 we decided to add four new sites to the plan (Al-kiashmah, A-Sha`afa, Al-Susa and Al-Baghouz). These areas were outside the survey plan, because they were unsafe when we started the survey, in addition to the absence of municipalities in it.
However, with the start of the survey, we noticed that people were returning to their villages at an accelerated pace with the presence of large quantities of debris and waste, which necessitated us to establish an accurate database of the existing quantities in order to encourage other organizations to intervene rapidly in those villages.
Furthermore, these sites were not safe because of the presence of mines in them, but they became relatively safe after demining operations coinciding with the return of the residents.
The total number of surveyed sites has reached 39 sites, the survey process ended on 11.25.2019.
Accordingly, we can say that the Khotoat Organization now possesses a comprehensive assessment of the debris in the countryside of Deir Ezzor, “the eastern side of the river”, in its western and eastern sides.
Challenges and risks faced by staff during the survey:
– There were some unexploded projectiles in some of the surveyed sites and among the garbage.
– The unknown status of the roads leading to the regular dumpsites, as the regular dumps are located in the desert, where the clashes were occurring, so there are some old military emplacements, though most of the villages abandoned the regular dumpsites and took random dumpsites close to the village and sometimes within the village.
It could form a clear information base for future projects to remove debris and solid waste.
