Disasters, Conflicts and Migration 

Natural Disasters
Type	Occurs	Comments / Details
Drought	YES	Between 2018 and 2022, Southern Madagascar experienced a prolonged drought as rainfall became scarcer amid a changing climate.   Food security was devastated and widespread hunger ensued to reach near-famine proportions. Impoverishment, health impacts of malnutrition and stunting, caused by these lean years, will have a significant impact on years to come.   Drought takes a toll on social relationships.  The strain of losing access to water, watching crops die, losing livelihoods and seeing family members go hungry can lead to social stress within households and communities, and give rise to violence and conflict.   Although the economic, health and environmental impacts of drought have been widely studied, the social impacts of drought remain largely overlooked.   In 2020, the World Bank teamed up with researchers at the Global Studies Institute, California State University, and put in place a monitoring system to track the social impacts of the drought in Southern Madagascar.   Every four months, a representative panel of 480 respondents was asked to reflect on the impacts of the drought and how various social dynamics were faring. Respondents identified the drought as causing the following particular stresses: lack of access to water and food, increased food prices, increased poverty and pressure on livelihoods.
Earthquakes	NO
Epidemics	YES	- Infectious diseases remain the leading causes of morbidity and mortality for both adults and children. The main endemic diseases are malaria in coastal regions, pulmonary tuberculosis and intestinal and urinary schistosomiasis.  Currently, the Malagasy population lives in an environment where risk factors (poverty, pollution, unhealthy environment, climate change, increase and speed of international travel, political instability, etc.) contribute to the outbreak of the epidemic (seasonal and avian influenza, arbovirus, rabies, malaria, plague, etc.). Emerging and re-emerging diseases are causes of morbidity and mortality. The influenza, responsible for school and work absenteeism, respiratory and cardiovascular complications especially in the elderly and young children.  - Arboviruses can affect a considerable number of individuals and can lead to haemorrhagic forms responsible for high mortality. Arboviruses circulate in the whole island. The risk is very high for dengue due to the presence of susceptible mosquitoes strains while the virus circulates in East Africa and in the Indian Ocean area. This risk seems to be very low for yellow fever, and intermediate for other arboviruses.   - Plague is endemic in Madagascar and cases are reported each year in bubonic and pneumonic forms. The favorable season for transmission of the disease generally lasts from September to April. Cases are usually reported from the central highlands of the country, located at an altitude of over 700 meters, as is the situation with the current outbreak involving the regions of Itasy and Haute Matsiatra. Between 200 and 400 cases of plague are usually notified each year by the Ministry of Public Health, mainly in the bubonic form.    - Malaria transmission in Madagascar is highly heterogeneous, exhibiting spatial, seasonal and long-term trends. Transmission exhibits strong spatial trends, with high endemicity in the coastal regions and lower transmission in the highlands, and seasonal patterns in incidence are widely observed.   In Madagascar, too, the floods led by two cyclones during the first two months of 2023 have been behind the upsurge in malaria cases. It increased the risk of cholera outbreaks in the country, noted the WHO in a statement   Between 2015 and 2021, the incidence of malaria cases increased by over 40 per cent in Madagascar, according to the WHO’s World Malaria Report, 2022.  As of June 5, 2022, Madagascar reported 543,994 cases of malaria and 68 deaths (CFR 0.01%), according to the weekly bulletin of the WHO for the period July 6- July 10, 2022   These incidences are associated with the five storms and tropical cyclones — Ana, Batsirai, Dumako, Emnati, and Gombo — that hit Madagascar between January and March 2022.  - Poliomyelitis reappears in 2014 as the country was well on track to completely eradicate this epidemic.  Finally, Madagascar is threatened by epidemics of viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola or yellow fever, due to eco-epidemiological conditions and susceptibility of unfavorable populations.
Extreme Temperatures	NO
Flooding	YES	Floods in Madagascar are usually a result of one of the following events: flooding of rivers due to abnormally intense rainfall;, torrential rains in urban areas; failure of the drainage system causing flooding in cities, as the impermeable surface of the urban soil increases the problems of flow, breaks of dams or constructions retaining water:  These phenomena cause almost annually considerable damage to the country.   The most exposed areas are: the Central Highlands (Analamanga, Alaotra Mangoro) where the soils are ferralitic and clay like, therefore not very permeable and easily retain runoff;.  The coastal areas (Atsimo Andrefana, Atsimo Antsinanana, Vatovavy Fitovinany, Betsiboka, Menabe, Sofia) whose soils are generally clay like in character and which very quickly lose their absorptive capacity by saturation.  In many parts of the island, it is now essential to have good watershed management, urban drainage infrastructure, and better planning in urban centers. It is also necessary to address the problem of informal occupations in flood-prone areas because this phenomenon exacerbates other causes associated with water absorption mechanisms.
Insect Infestation	YES	The locust plague remains the most serious threat to insect infestation in Madagascar. This type of hazard is causing considerable damage to the crops of the crossing areas, thus reducing the profitability of the arable land and causing drought in the long term.  Grasshopper invasions can be attributed to a large part of the food shortage suffered by the majority of the regions of southern Madagascar: Atsimo-andrefana, Androy and Anosy.  The presence of desert locusts (Schistocerca gregarias) and locusts (Locusta migratorioid) is the most common.  Recently limited to the southern regions, the locust invasion began by gaining the highlands for about 3 years, whereas until then they had long been spared. The locusts reached the capital in 2014.  A National Committee for Control of Desert Locust (CNLA) was created by Decree 98-057 in 1998; And after the invasion from 1997 to 2000, this locust control was entrusted to the National Anti-locust Center (CNA). The CNA provides surveillance and preventive control.  In April 2021, Madagascar observed an increase in the locust population, “Locusta migratoria capito”, and a locust control intervention program was quickly established.  The risk of an explosion of locust swarms, mainly in rice fields, is extreme. The best solution is locating the locust bands and eradicating them before they turn into vast swarms of reproductive adults. Level Up, a Kenyan company, has provided aerial spraying for Madagascar since December 2021. The last major locust campaign in Madagascar was 2014-2016.
Mudslides	YES	In Madagascar, the Analamanga region is considered to be the region most affected by the landslide, particularly in the Manjakamiadana hill. Nevertheless, according to the BNGRC (National Bureau of Risk and Disaster Management) which is in charge of monitoring this phenomenon, all the districts of the hills of Antananarivo-city are on the list of zones highly at risk.  The classic phenomenon of deforestation of mountain flanks due to clearing and agropastoral practices is the main cause of landslides, favored on the other hand by geological features. In addition, the specific features of the climate in certain zones do not favor the appearance of significant vegetation that can protect the mountain flanks. Rockfall collapses and landslides are also observed in some parts of the country.    In January 2023, flooding and landslides caused by the passage of tropical storm Cheneso across Madagascar caused 30 deaths, left 20 people missing and affected tens of thousands across the Indian Ocean island nation.
Volcanic Eruptions	NO
High Waves / Surges	NO
Wildfires	YES	In Madagascar, forest and vegetation fires are generally characterized by the spread of bush fires, which are most often initiated by farmers seeking to clear new land for subsistence farming or by livestock farmers pushed new vegetation to feed their animals. These fires sometimes overflow to protected parks and forest areas.  The increase in fire outbreaks is a serious threat to Madagascar’s landscape. According to figures from the Directorate for the Revalorisation of Forest Resources at the Madagascan Ministry of the Environment, 10,000 hectares of forest are lost every year in Madagascar due to bush fires. And statistics provided by the US Space Agency (Nasa) indicate that “90% of the burnt areas correspond to grassy/shrubby savannahs, a little more than 5% to forest areas and less than 5% to crop areas.
High Winds	YES	Madagascar is the first country most exposed to cyclones in Africa and the third most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change.  More than 60% of the tropical cyclones forming in the basin directly or indirectly affect Madagascar, on average 1.5 cyclones a year crosses the country, generally affecting 2/3 of the country.    Freddy: 2 to 7 March 2023  Freddy: 6 to 24 February 2023  Cheneso: 17 to 29 january 2023  Jasmine: 24 to 28 April 2022  Gombe: 8 to 14 March 2022  Emnati: 16 to 24 February 2022  Dumako: 13 to 16 February 2022  Batsirai: 27 January to 8 February 2022  Ana: 23 to 25 January 2022
Other Comments	N/A
Man-Made Issues
Civil Strife	No	N/A
International Conflict	No	N/A
Internally Displaced Persons	No	N/A
Refugees Present	No	N/A
Landmines / UXO Present	No	N/A
Other Comments	N/A

 

For a more detailed database on disasters by country, please see the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters Country Profile. 

 

Seasonal Effects on Logistics Capacities 

Seasonal Effects on Transport
Transport Type	Time Frame	Comments / Details
Primary Road Transport	All year	Only around 10% of the primary roads are paved and half of these 10% suffer of a lack of maintenance.  Only the paved part is accessible all year long, the other part are mostly passable only during the dry season.
Secondary Road Transport	From December To June	Most of them are very difficult or unpredictable during the rainy season.
Rail Transport	All year	The railway is not very developed and the network suffers from a lack of investment and maintenance.  Most of the railways sections experienced temporary closures during the year due to problems on the network and infrastructures.
Air Transport	All year	With 126 airports, the territory is well covered and practicable all year long. If 29 airstrips are paved, the other are clay, and need confirmation before to land during the rainy season.
Waterway Transport	All year	Water transport is working without interruption all year long.

 

 

Seasonal Effects on Storage and Handling
Activity Type	Time Frame	Comments / Details
Storage	From December to June	During the rainy season a detail check must be done with local authorities on the storage capacities as heavy rains and heavy winds can affect the structures.
Handling	From December to June	During the rainy season some areas may have limited handling capacities
Other	N/A	N/A

 

Due to the geography of the island, the climate of Madagascar is very variable. Generally, there are two seasons in Madagascar: a very hot rainy season from December to June, and a cooler dry season from May to October. 

-       The east coast is the wettest part of the country; this is where the tropical forest lies. This area is also regularly affected by tropical storms and devastating cyclones which affect the transport network and makes some parts inaccessible during some month. 

-       The plateaus of the Center are much colder and drier; most of it is crossed by paved roads. 

-       The West Coast is home to dry deciduous forest. The road network is very poor, most of the places are very difficult to access by road even during the dry season and become almost un-reachable during the rainy season. 

-       Southern Madagascar has the driest climate of the island, the road network is mainly unpaved and in a very bad condition: rain is rare but makes roads inaccessible when it comes. 

 

 

 

Capacity and Contacts for In-Country Emergency Response 

 

GOVERNMENT 

-  The BNGRC (Bureau National de Gestion des Risques et des Catastrophes) has been created to handle disasters and risks. It replaces the CNS (Conseil National de Secours) since 2006.  

The National office is supervising Regional (BRGRC) offices and is still working on improving the capacity of Regional and District bodies to manage risks and disasters. They got a new office in 2022 in Mahajanga and are willing to get a new one in Manakara. With the contribution of all partners involved in risks and disaster management and strong support from OCHA, BNGRC is updating every year the contingency plan.  

The contingency plan is a helpful document with guidelines on how to assess and then respond to disasters, it contains information, contacts and data to fast respond in emergency situations.  

BNGRC has deployed VHF radios (BLU) to most districts and has pre-positioned food and non-food items in selected areas. 

-  The CPC (Corps de Protection Civile) is organized on an army-like body and has a staff crew of 258 rescuers. It is fully equipped and the rescuers are ready to be dispatched. The CPC do intervenes on BNGRC request and has access to army resources when needed. 

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List 

 

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List. 

 

HUMANITARIAN COMMUNITY 

During the critical time of the political crisis of 2009 the Humanitarian Country Team was activated under the guidance of the United Nations agencies, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent and the three big NGO coalition members of IASC on global level.  

The HCT normally meets every second month and is chaired by BCR (Bureau de Coordinateur résident) who together with OCHA ensures the administration. 

 The CRIC  (Comité Restreint d’Intervention en cas de Catastrophe) is a committee whose meetings aim at assesings and addressing a disaster. CRIC decisions will legitimate actions to be taken in case of disaster. CRIC meetings are normally organized at the BNGRC meeting room and shared either by BNGRC or OCHA. 

 

 

For more information on humanitarian agency contact details, please see the following link: 4.2 Humanitarian Agency Contact List. 

 

 

 

For more information on Madagascar Regulatory Department contact details, please see the following links:

4.1 Madagascar Government Contact List

4.3 Madagascar Laboratory and Quality Testing Companies Contact List

Madagascar Bureau of Standards (Bureau des normes de Madagascar)

 The Madagascar Bureau of Standards (BNM), is the National Standardization Organization, responsible for the implementation of the national policy on standardization and quality, as defined by the Government and the Ministry of Technical Supervision. It is placed under the technical supervision of the Ministry of Trade and under the financial and budgetary supervision of the Ministry of Finance and Budget.

 The office is responsible for:

-       Supporting the coordination of work standardization , developing, revising and centralizing national standards,

-       To submit to the agreement of the Ministry in charge of trade and the National Council of Standardization the final texts for their adoption and promulgation,

-       Promote the application of standards,

-       Acquire and manage any normative documentation,

-       Disseminate standards and any normative information,

-       Promote approaches to quality assurance of products, goods and services.

-       Provide training on standardization and related activities,

-       Represent Madagascar to regional standardization bodies such as: ARSO or ORAN, SADC STAN, COMESA STAN,

-       Represent Madagascar to international standardization bodies such as ISO, IEC,

-       Certify, at the request of the producer or service provider, compliance with standards,

-       Manage the national conformity mark,

-       Coordinate with the professional organizations concerned the management of collective conformity marks such as Label and AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée),

-       Manage laboratories affiliated with the Bureau of Standards of Madagascar.

http://www.bnm.mg/

Customs

Under the authority of the Minister of Finance and Budget, the General Directorate of Customs is responsible for the design and implementation of the Government's customs policy.

The main functions of the Malagasy customs administration are:

-       To meet government objectives in terms of revenue collection,

-       To promote economic growth by facilitating legitimate trade,

-       To protect citizens and the environment by fighting illicit trafficking,

-       Secure the international supply chain.

http://www.douanes.gov.mg/

Various regulatory departments and quality control agencies

All sectors of activity in Madagascar are attached to a ministry and are under the regulation and control of a specific agency.

• Food:

Under the regulation of three ministries (health, commerce and agriculture), the ACSQDA (Agence de Controle de la Securité sanitaire et de la Qualité des Denrées Alimentaire) should control all the foodstuffs before they are placed on the market.

This Agency, in collaboration with other institutions, has an analysis laboratory and is in charge of:

-       making toxicological expertise,

-       monitoring food-borne diseases,

-       coordinate the quality control activities mandated by laboratories for certification for human consumption.

• Water:

Even if the Jirama (national water supplier) has its own laboratory, the law oblige them to contract a private actor to do a counter-expertise each time there is a control. The contract is renewed every year after a call for tender. From several years, the Pasteur institute has been the agency doing these controls.

In the private sector teh company  BushProof, specialized in the water supply and sanitation sector, has a laboratory as well for monitoring and analyzing water quality.

• Medicines:

The Pharmaceutical Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Medicines Agency of Madagascar (AGMED), part of the Ministry of Health, is the main agency in charge of regulating and controlling the quality of medical and pharmaceutical products in the public and private sectors.

With a laboratory, the agency's main roles are:

-       Inspect pharmaceutical activities throughout the national territory

-       To control the quality of the pharmaceutical products to be marketed in Madagascar.

• Biological:

-       The Clinical Biology Center (CBC) attached to the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar, is a multidisciplinary biomedical analysis laboratory serving the public.

-       The Food and Environmental Hygiene Laboratory (LHAE): is another laboratory within the Pasteur Institute in Madagascar, whose diagnostic activities focus on health risks monitoring associated with food, water and the environment.

-       CMM Labo : a private clinical specialized in biomedical analysis,

• Hydrocarbon:

All the activities of the oil sector on a national scale, are under the regulation of OMH (Office Malgache des Hydrocarbures). In principle, the reception of all imported petroleum products must have the prior approval of the OMH; its main role is to control theoretically (certificate of origin or quality) and practically (sample analysis) the quality of all import products before they are landed or put into consumption.

OMH has its own laboratory but its capabilities in terms of types of analyzes are limited.

For the sampling and analysis of products, the Office is in collaboration with three national laboratories:

-       the Toamasina GRT laboratory

-       the LPSA laboratory in Alarobia

-       the Saybolt laboratory in Ivato

http://www.omh.mg/

 

 

 

Duties and Tax Exemption

For contact information regarding government custom authorities, please follow the link below:

4.1 Madagascar Government Contact List

Madagascar is a member state of the World Customs Organization (WCO), having ratified the Convention establishing a Customs Co-operation Council on 18 February 1964. This Convention entered into force on 4 November 1952. The only international body of Customs law that contains a specific chapter binding states to facilitate the work of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in implementing humanitarian assistance is the revised Kyoto Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (with its Annex J-5 on the Special Procedure for Relief Material).  Madagascar has ratified this Convention on 27 June 2007.  They have yet to accept Annex J-5 however. They have also signed, but not yet ratified, the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations on 12 September 2002.

Madagascar is also a member state of the World Trade Organization (WTO), having joined on 17 Nov ember 1995.  The WTO helps trade "flow smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably”.  Its roles are:

• Acting as a forum for trade negotiations
• Administering trade agreements
• Settling trade disputes
• Reviewing national trade policies
• Assisting developing countries in trade policy issues, through technical assistance and training programs

Cooperating with other international organizations

 To finish, Madagascar is a member state of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).  Through COMESA, a Free Trade Area (FTA) was achieved on 31 October 2000 when nine of the member States (Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe) eliminated their tariffs on COMESA originating products.  Burundi and Rwanda joined the FTA on 01 January 2004. COMESA is also preparing to establish a Customs Union.  In preparation, the Eleventh Meeting of the Council of Ministers adopted a Road Map that outlined programs and activities whose implementation was necessary before the launching of the Union.

It is expected that the launch will be achieved by the year 2008. 

More information can be found at www.comesa.int.

Emergency Response

In the following table, state which of the following agreements and conventions apply to the country and if there are any other existing ones

Please refer to the following link for customs and tax exemptions for importation of humanitarian goods in case of emergencies, effective 7 February 2022: Guide pratique pour le dédouanement et la régularisation des envois de secours en cas de catastrophes naturelles et autres évènements perturbateurs.

Exemption Regular Regime (Non-Emergency Response)

The Customs Code of Madagascar states that certain items can enter into the country duty and tax free.  Among these items are goods for works of solidarity and those destined for charitable organizations. However, the organizations must be registered with the government to be able to claim this privilege.  

This is all contained in Section 7, Chapter 1, Article 240 of the Customs Code.

Exemption Certificate Application Procedure

Exemption Certificate Document Requirements

Customs Clearance

General Information 

Any cargo bound for the Republic of Madagascar must be covered by a Cargo Tracking Note (Order n°01/MFB/SG/DGD dated March 23rd, 2007, concerning the creation and the validation of the Cargo Tracking Note ,  see GASYNET).

For more information for GasyNet, please follow the link below: www.gasynet.com

 However, some operations are not subjected to this rule, in particular:

• Travelers’ personal belongings.
• Sending of light parcels, postal parcels and air freights whose FOB value does not exceed 100 Euros or its equivalent in national currency.
• Sending of documents and/or samples.
• Imports of weapons, ammunition and instruments of war for national defense.
• Imports of banknote for the Central Bank of Madagascar.
• State to State donations and donations from an international organization to the State.
• Diplomatic bags.
• Sending and donations in case of natural disaster.

The exporter or his representative is required to open the Advanced Cargo Information (ACI or BSC) as soon as the goods are loaded. To do so, he will access the Cargo Tracking Note (BSC) module through the Internet (Cf. preceding internet link):

• Applicant will create his own account (by attaching an extract from his certificate of registry), or access the system by using his account if he already has one.
• He will register the elements of his Advanced Cargo Information (ACI or BSC), namely:

             - The identity of the importer in Madagascar,

             - The identity of the forwarding agent,

             - Details of the sending (goods and mode of transport),

• Then, applicant will have to attach the required scanned documents (invoice, the bill of lading or LTA and the export customs entry.

Once these formalities carried out, and after checking by the Technical Center, the open Advanced Cargo Information (ACI or BSC) acquires the status of admissible.

At custom level, the following original documents will be necessary to conclude the process:

-       The final invoice

-       The travel document (bill of lading or airway bill)

-       The original and the copy of the certificate of tax registration for the first operation

-       The packing list.

-       The insurance certificate, if necessary,

-       And the various required authorizations delivered by concerned Ministries or official organizations, according to the duty-paid goods.

 

More information on the customs Code can be found on the following link: Madagascar Customs Website

 

TYPES OF CIRCUITS CLEARANCE

The Customs Administration has established four circuits’ clearance:

The entry and registration of customs declarations is directly done in MIDAC MODULE.

Any custom agent or forwarding agent should have access to the online custom module called MIDAC.

When all the information on the goods and the declarant are entered in the system, an automatic selection will determine the control circuit:

• Green circuit : No control (Automatic delivery of release order)
• Yellow circuit : Document control
• Red circuit : Passage to scanner and physical verification if the result is "suspicious"
• Blue circuit : Verification will be done by the custom control services in case of need for further investigation

Customs Clearance Document Requirements

 

Transit Regime

This case is not usual in Madagascar. In general, all products which pass through this transit regime must have a special authorisation from the Ministry of finance.

If this transit procedure is presented, please find below some text of regulations:

1/Transit is the customs procedure under which the goods are placed under the customs control during the laps of time its stays in the country.

2/ In order to benefit from transit, tenderer must submit a declaration in with a commitment guaranteed by under the penalties of forward the goods declared in the a particular office, under seals intact, within a specified time and to follow the itinerary prescribed.

3/Absolute transit is excluded goods bearing false marks of Malagasy origin.

4/ Decisions of the Chief Executive Officer of Customs determine the conditions application of the provisions of this transit regime.