Welcome to the Weekly Worldwide 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…
[The place names link to maps so that you can get a quick idea of the region.]
BANGLADESH: The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society has given new boats, and new hope, to hundreds of fishermen who lost their livelihoods in last year’s Cyclone Aila.
POLAND: In the first stages of the devastating floods, more than 100 Polish Red Cross volunteers worked tirelessly to save lives, and provide clean water and first aid while hundreds more now work to distribute aid.
PHILIPPINES: The ICRC is assisting more than 7,000 drought-affected families in Ifugao with distributions of rice, fish paste, cooking oil and laundry soap.
SOMALIA: Despite recent heavy rains, clean drinking water is still scarce in this region troubled by armed conflict and drought. In one of many water sanitation projects, this Spring the ICRC assisted more than 100,000 Somalis with an emergency distribution of drinking water via tanker trucks.
WORLDWIDE: The ICRC assisted record numbers of internally displaced people in 2009, providing health care support, emergency household items, food, agricultural support, water and habitation services and other aid in response to specific needs.
INDIA: As a part of the Tsunami Recovery Program, the American Red Cross and Indian Red Cross Society together helped inaugurate the early warning center in Tamil Nadu.
GLOSSARY:
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies