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...

PHILIPPINES: Last week tropical storm Washi swept through entire villages in several areas of the Philippines, causing the deaths of an estimated nearly 1,000 people and massive damage to infrastructure, including the water system. The ICRC, led by it’s local partner the Philippine Red Cross, distributed food packs, essential household items and hygiene kits for 18,000 people in three of the areas hardest hit within the first 48 hours. With more than 270,000 people now lacking access to clean drinking water, ICRC water and habitat engineers are devising ways to bring water from the undamaged water sources and of storing it for use by the survivors.

HAITI: The Haiti Red Cross Society is working to recycle rubble from the earthquake in 2010 to prepare for future disasters. So far they have been able to take 25,000 cubic meters of rubble and have local residents process it into concrete blocks, paving slabs or walls which will stop the ground from slipping away during Haiti’s next heavy rains or in case of another earthquake. The rubble recycling is just one part of the Haiti Red Cross Society’s neighborhood development support that assists in providing shelters, access to water and sanitation, and job opportunities along with training and technical support.

SOMALIA: Torrential rains that started in the southern provinces of Somalia in early October were welcomed in the drought stricken nation, however most roads were turned into rivers that have slowed down transport and delivery of food aid. Together with the Somali Red Crescent Society, the ICRC has distributed beans, rice and oil to over 917,000 people in southern and central Somalia. This will help farmers bridge the gap until January, when they will be able to harvest from seed the ICRC has also distributed.

NORTH KOREA: In North Korea, meager crops were severely damaged after being struck by a typhoon and flooding in July and August. Now, with the arrival of the first snow, people in the area are busy preparing for what they expect to be a severe winter. The Red Cross Society of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, supported by the IFRC, has so far distributed 288 metric tons of yellow maize to 6,051 of the most vulnerable families (24,827 people) who were severely affected by floods and subsequent food shortages in three target counties in South Hwanghae province.


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...

MALDIVES: Last week the Maldivian Red Crescent became the 187th member of the IFRC at its 18th General Assembly in Geneva. The process of forming the new National Society began in the wake of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which affected over 27,000 people in the Maldives. These low-lying islands will be among the most threatened territories should sea levels rise significantly.

YEMEN: Two ICRC staff members and a Yemen Red Crescent Society volunteer who had been briefly held by armed individuals in a village in Lahj governorate, southern Yemen, returned to Aden. On November 22nd, they left to distribute food rations and essential household items to displaced people in Lahj, but were prevented from returning to their office. The ICRC was in regular contact with them after the incident occurred, and contacted the authorities and other leaders in the area to request their assistance in arranging for the prompt return.

NIGER: The ICRC is providing support for a major immunization campaign against meningitis that began last week in the Agadez area of northern Niger. The ICRC is supporting the campaign in the districts of Arlit and Tchirozérine, where over 58,000 people aged one to 29 will be vaccinated by the first week in December.

IRAQ: Over the past two weeks the ICRC, in a joint Iranian-Iraqi operation, found the remains of 103 Iranian and Iraqi soldiers in Al-Fao, southern Iraq, who went missing during the 1980-1988 war between the two countries. In its capacity as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC provides support for the efforts of the Iranian and Iraqi authorities to account for those who went missing during the war and to ease the suffering of their families.

SOMALILAND (SOMALIA): While Southern and Central Somalia carry the brunt of the East Africa food crisis, Somaliland has not escaped the effects of recurrent droughts and political violence. At the newly-established Sheikh Omar Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp, the Somalia Red Crescent has been working to recruit volunteers and distribute relief items provided by the Icelandic Red Cross from its clothing business.


GLOSSARY:

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