Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

AFGHANISTAN: Over the last couple of weeks, the Afghan Red Crescent Society, with the support of the IFRC, has helped almost 2,000 families in Kabul through the coldest winter for 15 years by distributing blankets and clothes. Hundreds of people have been returning to Kabul from Pakistan and conflict affected areas, setting up in makeshift unheated tents.

HAITI: More than two years after a devastating earthquake demolished thousands of homes in Haiti, up to half a million vulnerable people are estimated to still be living in camps. A majority of these were renters before the quake and with limited income generating activities available many people have no way of affording their rent now. To support people to leave the camps the IFRC is providing resettlement grants with a series of different options for families to choose from, such as receiving rental support or moving assistance.

SENEGAL: In the run up to elections in Senegal, social unrest gripped areas of the nation and put the Senegalese Red Cross on stand-by with 98 rapid response teams comprised of 686 first-aid volunteers. 153 people were assisted during pre-election demonstrations, mostly for minor injuries with 44 sent to local hospitals for further attention.

CYPRUS: During a meeting last week the ICRC decided to recognize the Cyprus Red Cross Society as the 188th National Society. In accordance with the Cyprus Red Cross Law of 1967, it acts as an auxiliary to the national authorities of the Republic of Cyprus in the humanitarian field and plays a central role in disaster preparedness and disaster response.


GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

PHOTO:
Afghan Red Crescent Society distributed clothes and blankets to almost vulnerable and snow affected families in Kabul

Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

SOMALIA: In response to ongoing armed clashes in the Middle Juba region of southern Somalia, the ICRC has sent urgently needed emergency medical supplies over the past few days to various medical facilities on both sides of the front line in Kismayo, Afmadow and Dhobley. In cooperation with local treatment facilities, the ICRC will continue to closely assess surgical and other medical needs in the coming days and weeks.

SYRIA: The situation in Syria has continued to deteriorate, especially in the past week, and violence is taking a heavy toll, leaving hundreds of people dead or wounded. Since June of this year, when the ICRC was granted greater access to the areas of unrest, the organization has been providing medical aid, food aid, and other basic items for the people affected. Over the past eight months the ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent have distributed at least 14,000 family sized one month food parcels, 30,000 school kits, 1,400 hygiene kits, medical supplies, hospital support, drought relief, and legal workshops concerning international humanitarian and human rights laws.

PHILLIPINES: An outbreak of the deadly bacteria Leptospirosis has highlighted the dramatic and ongoing needs of the tens of thousands of people in northern Mindanao, the most prominent island in the southern Phillipines, who were displaced and affected by Typhoon Washi. The Philippine Red Cross has deployed health staff and mobilized additional volunteers and resources in an effort to help limit the outbreak.

AFGHANISTAN: At the ICRC's Orthopedic Center in Kabul, playing wheelchair basketball is a welcome diversion for both patients and staff. The patients had been playing basketball together for some time, but it was more like 'buzkashi' – the ferocious no-holds-barred local equivalent of polo. Inspired by a training course they received in May of 2010 by West Linn-native wheelchair basketball player and coach Jess Markt, the players have practiced together every week since then.


GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

PAKISTAN: This year alone, more than 12,000 people have benefited from services in physical rehabilitation centers supported by the ICRC in Peshawar, Quetta and Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. The centers provide custom-made artificial limbs and supportive devices, crutches and wheelchairs designed according to the needs of the patients. Physiotherapy helps patients learn how to use new devices and to regain their full mobility.

YEMEN: Violence in the Yemeni city of Taiz has had a serious impact on basic services in recent weeks, with life-saving medical services especially hard hit. The ICRC is reaching out to authorities, fighters and all others involved to respect human life and dignity and to allow first-aid and medical teams to treat and transport injured people in safety.

AFGHANISTAN: The ICRC's assistance activities are helping to create incomes for vulnerable rural communities by piloting a poultry rearing, food-for-work project with primarily women entrepreneurs. In the months since the scheme began more than 240 women have participated in the eight cluster villages. Each has raised around 15 chickens and collected an average of 20 eggs from each hen per month.

SRI LANKA: The war is over but now the people of Sri Lanka have the hard task of rebuilding their lives and homes. The Australian Red Cross is playing a key role in dealing with the acute housing deficit in Sri Lanka, but unlike many donors it is not building houses for people by contracting foreign companies and workers to do the job. Here, people build their own houses based on five specific cash grants, each one coinciding with the completion of a specific construction task.


GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

TURKEY: The Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) and IFRC are working to assist survivors and reach people trapped in the rubble following the 7.2 earthquake that hit the eastern Turkish province of Van on Sunday. At least 217 people have been killed and 1,090 people have been injured, with hundreds more missing.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Over the past week, heavy rains in Central America caused flooding and several major landslides. A landslide in La Libertad, El Salvador took five lives and another five were rescued from under the dirt by members of the Salvadorian Red Cross. In Guatemala, the Guatemalan Red Cross is delivering relief supplies to those affected by landslides. At least 100 have died in the region, which continues to receive heavy rains from Hurricane Rita.

AFGHANISTAN: Every year, as the weather turns cold, the ICRC runs a winter program for Afghan detainees. By the end of October, the ICRC will have distributed over 26,000 parcels, blankets and other supplies to 72 prisons all over Afghanistan.

MADAGASCAR: Last week was the final training seminar in a series of 10 at the national police academy in Ivato, Madagascar. The seminars, organized by the ICRC, gave 400 officers the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of the rules on the use of force under human rights law.


GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies