Timor-Leste Humanitarian Background
- Calamities and Seasonal Affects
- Capacity and Contacts for In-Country Emergency Response
  - Government
  - Humanitarian Community

Timor-Leste Humanitarian Background

Disasters, Conflicts and Migration
Natural Disasters	Yes / No	Comments / Details
Drought	Yes	One recorded drought, no additional details
Earthquakes	Yes	Regular earthquakes, Timor-Leste being on the “Ring of Fire”. A recent Norwegian-led report indicated a major earthquake in TL is “long overdue”
Epidemics	Yes	2005, 22 deaths, 336 people affected
Extreme Temperatures	n/a	n/a
Flooding	Yes	June 2001; 2 deaths; 2,508 people affected June 2003; 2 deaths; 600 people affected December 2003; 450 people affected February 2008: Major flooding Liquica, western corridor blocked for 6 days.
Insect Infestation	Yes	Regular Locust infestation in Maliana district, spread to other districts. Insect infested stored food is a concern in TL
Mudslides	Yes	Regular occurrence, especially during wet season. Re-forestation efforts ongoing but relatively ineffective.
Volcanic Eruptions	n/a	n/a
High Waves / Surges	n/a	n/a
Wildfires	n/a	n/a
High Winds	Yes	March 2006 (Baucau); 8730 people affected.
Other Comments	Floods happen regularly in Southern districts as well as Oecussi where people can be cut-off from aid for longer time. There are no records for disasters prior to 2001 as Timor-Leste was internationally recognized in only 2002.
Man-Made Issues
Civil Strife	Yes	April 2006; civil unrest, 40+ deaths, 20,000 IDPs
International Conflict	Yes	1976 – 1999; conflict with Indonesian occupation, est.100 – 250,000 deaths. September 1999; militia retributions, 1,400 deaths and 300,000 East Timorese refugees in Indonesian West Timor.
Internally Displaced Persons	Yes	April 2006; civil unrest, 150,000 IDPs, most returned home by mid 2009.
Refugees Present	Yes	September 1999; 300,000 East Timorese refugees in Indonesian West Timor.
Landmines / UXO Present	Yes	UXO’s found regularly following widespread reconstruction of buildings in Dili and other major cities.
Other Comments	n/a

For more detailed database on disasters by country, please see the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters:

EMDAT information on Timor-Leste

Calamities and Seasonal Affects

Seasonal Affects on Transport
Transport	Comments	From (month) to (month)
Primary Road Transport	Flooding, landslides in wet season	Nov - Mar
Secondary Road Transport	Flooding, landslides in wet season	Nov - Mar
Rail Transport	n/a	n/a
Air Transport	Max Payload affected in wet season due to aircraft carrying additional fuel	Nov - Mar
Waterway Transport	No Seasonal affects	n/a

Seasonal Affects on Storage and Handling (economic, social, climate…)
Activity		From <month> to <month>
Storage	Pre-positioning of stocks in rural areas prior to the rainy season.	Jun - Oct
Handling	No Major Seasonal affects	n/a
Other	No Major Seasonal affects	n/a

Capacity and Contacts for In-Country Emergency Response

Government

The government of Timor-Leste has some established departments and mechanisms to deal with national disasters, these are under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Solidarity and include the National Department Management Directorate (NDMD) National Department of Social Assistance (DNAS), Disaster Operations Center (DOC), and the National Disaster Management Policy (NDMP).
The military and civil defense forces in Timor-Leste are formally a member of the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) which is currently being established in every district. PNTL and FFDTL mainly provide security and communicative assistance whereas FFDTL also is capable to provide transport of relief items.
According to the National Disaster Risk Management Policy, the DOC and NDMD will rely on international organizations for logistics assistance.

For information on Timor-Leste government contact details, please see the following link:

4.1 Timor-Leste Government Contact List

Humanitarian Community

The humanitarian community has been working closely with the Government of Timor-Leste assisting in the development of these structures.

For information on Timor-Leste humanitarian agency contact details, please see the following link:

4.2 Timor-Leste Humanitarian Agency Contact List