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...

PHILIPPINES: Two weeks after typhoon Nesat and Nalgae hit the northern Philippines, the Philippine Red Cross is intensifying relief efforts for flooding and landslides with support from the IFRC. At least 90 have died and four million have been affected. Last week the IFRC launched a preliminary emergency appeal for $3.9 million dollars and the American Red Cross has contributed $50,000 for relief efforts.

THAILAND: Earlier this week the ICRC started to provide emergency relief for 8,000 detainees affected by flooding from the two typhoons. The water was nearly 13 feet high at Ayutthaya, where 1,700 prisoners were evacuated.

VIETNAM: Heavy rains accompanying the typhoons have resulted in record flood levels in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. At least 23 have been killed with 30,600 houses flooded. The Vietnam Red Cross Society is carrying out assessments and distributing one million water purification tablets and 3,000 household kits containing basic items that are typically lost or destroyed during floods, with response expected to grow.

PAKISTAN: After unprecedented floods in Pakistan’s Sindh province the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, in partnership with the IFRC, has launched an appeal of $11 million to support ongoing relief operations for the next four months. More than 8.9 million people have been affected by the floods, and adverse living conditions have many concerned about the significant risk of disease.

DJIBOUTI: The American Red Cross opened it’s first Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) station in Africa on September 28th to provide services to the military members and civilian employees at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. SAF stations provide training on health and safety, disaster preparedness and readiness, emergency communications services, and provide enhanced morale services and activities.


GLOSSARY:

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