Red Cross Blogs

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As the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, it becomes increasingly difficult and dangerous for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in the region to carry out their lifesaving work.

On 25 January, Dr Abd-al-Razzaq Jbeiro, secretary-general of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and president of its Idlib branch, was shot and killed on the Halab-Damascus Highway. He was travelling in a vehicle clearly marked with the Red Crescent emblem.

Lack of respect for medical services

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has already called upon all those involved in the violence to respect and facilitate Red Crescent and Red Cross efforts to come to the aid of those in need. The call came when one Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer died and two volunteers were injured after their ambulance came under fire in September 2011.

Last month Béatrice Mégevand-Roggo, the ICRC head of operations for the Near and Middle East, again voiced the ICRC’s concern about difficulties accessing medical care in Syria. She said: “There have been repeated reports of lack of respect for medical staff and facilities.

“Our partners in the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been working around the clock to provide medical and food aid in particularly difficult and risky circumstances. Any delay or impediment in providing first aid could cost injured persons their lives.”

Protection in neutrality

The neutrality and impartiality of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement enables it to work in areas where many other agencies cannot – providing help to people solely on the basis of their needs and giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress.

Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers administer life-saving first aid to the injured. Like all medical personnel, they must be allowed to carry out their work in safety. Increasing the people in Syria’s knowledge of the Movement’s exclusively humanitarian aim – to bring aid in a fully impartial and neutral manner to people in need – will help reduce the dangers faced by staff and volunteers.

Funds from the British Red Cross’ Libya & Region Appeal are helping support the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in preparing a public awareness campaign to raise awareness in Syria about the Red Cross Movement’s emblem and fundamental principles, and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent’s role.

Donate to our Libya & Region Appeal

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Tags: emblem, International Committee, Libya & Region Appeal, Syria, Syrian Arab Red Crescent

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It took its time, but winter’s finally here.

The gloves are on, the temperature’s dropping faster than the economy and, later this week, parts of the UK will be colder than Iceland. That’s Iceland.

With the best will in the world, that realistically means lots of falls and broken bones, and hundreds of vulnerable people potentially put at risk from the freezing weather. So, here are some tips for staying safe:

Broken bones
It’s a simple enough equation: snow equals ice equals slippery surfaces equals people flat on their backsides. If you see someone slip over and break a bone:

1. You need to immobilise the affected part.  Try and support the injury with a cushion or items of clothing to prevent unnecessary movement.

2. With upper-arm injuries, encourage the person to support the limb with their hand.

3. As soon as possible, call 999 or get someone else to do it.

Head injuries
If someone is unlucky enough to slip and bang their head, they will definitely need your help.

1. Ask the person to rest and apply a cold compress to their injury – this can be ice or a packet of frozen vegetables, wrapped in something like a tea towel.

2. If they become drowsy, vomit or their condition deteriorates, call 999 or get someone else to do it.

Hypothermia
Most of us associate hypothermia with mountaineers and outdoorsy-types, but it’s more often caused by being in a poorly heated room for too long.

Older people and infants are especially at risk.  (Older people are less aware of changes in temperature and infants can’t regulate their own body temperatures.)

A person with hypothermia may be shivering, pale and cold to touch. They may also be disorientated.
1. Call 999 or get someone else to do it.
2. Warm the person slowly by wrapping them in a blanket and giving them warm drinks and high-energy foods, such as chocolate.
3. Give constant reassurance.

Take care during this cold snap, and for more information on basic first aid skills that could help your family and friends visit our website.

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Tags: Emergencies, First aid, first aid tips, severe weather

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Bangladesh has always been a frequent victim of cyclones, but a number of complex issues mean cyclones, and the tidal surges they often cause, are having an increasingly devastating impact on people living along the coast.

Population pressure, land shortage, urbanisation, governance and environmental management are all contributing factors, along with any rise in sea level from the impact of climate change* , which challenge the sustainability of many people’s means of making a living.

Fishing families and others on low incomes are particularly vulnerable. As they are already poor, when a cyclone or flood takes everything they own, they are left with literally nothing. They have no reserves in the bank and no insurance to help them start over.

The trauma of living through a cyclone only gives way to the overwhelming struggle to survive in its aftermath. And of course the survivors are the lucky ones.

It would be understandable to think that hundreds of thousands of people are facing a bleak future. But that’s not quite the whole story.

Many communities are defying the odds, hoping for, and finding, a better future for themselves and their children.

You can find out more in the photo story below.

Our programme

Thanks to a five-year Bangladesh Red Crescent programme (2006-2011), supported by the British Red Cross,  84 communities are now better at protecting people and their means of making a living when a cyclone strikes.

We focused on those living along the coast and most at risk of losing their lives, in particular:

• women and children
• fishermen.

Alamgir Hossain, from Ghutabacha community, says: “Knowledge is not expensive but it saves lives. Before Cyclone Sidr in 2007, people didn’t bother much about cyclone warnings.

“But over the last few years, since the Red Crescent has been working with us, people’s attitudes have changed. Now people listen to the warnings and know what to do.”

Safety at sea

Facing a cyclone at sea is a risky business. But without a radio and understanding of early warning signals, this is the terrifying situation experienced by many Bangladeshi fishermen.

We’ve trained 300 fishermen in safety at sea and provided them with:

• radio
• torch
• buoy
• compass
• first aid kit.

The training included: use of the equipment; understanding the cyclone warning system; first aid; and search and rescue.

Empowering women

It is common practice in Bangladesh for women to only leave the house with permission from their husband.

When a cyclone hits and a woman’s husband is out, despite the danger, she often doesn’t feel able to leave the home to seek safe shelter. As a result many women and children may die unnecessarily.

Through our programme, we tackled this problem by:

• setting up women’s forums and building women’s confidence through training
• working with the wider community, including religious leaders, to change attitudes to women.

Community action

Setting up community committees, made up of volunteers that motivate and organise their community to prepare for and respond to cyclones, has been key to the programme’s success and sustainability.

Alagmir Hossain, who is the secretary general of the Ghutabacha community disaster preparedness committee, says: “We are much better informed and organised. We’ve developed hazard maps that identify the homes and people most at risk, as well as the location of shelters.

“I feel confident we’ll continue sharing this knowledge and using the skills we’ve gained to save lives.”

A safer future

Following the completion of this work, the Bangladesh Red Crescent, with support from the British Red Cross, is developing a programme to help communities become more resilient, not just to cyclones but also a wider range of disasters and day to day crises.

Helping people protect their livelihoods as well as their lives will be a vital part of this work.

* UNISDR: Climate Change Impact And Disaster Vulnerabilities In The Coastal Areas Of Bangladesh

View the photos on Flickr

Find out more about how we’re helping people in Bangladesh prepare for disasters

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Tags: Bangladesh, climate change, cyclone, disaster recovery, fishermen, livelihoods

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The Red Cross is carrying out assessments in the Sahel region of west Africa where millions of people are at risk of a food crisis this year. 

Low and erratic rainfall and insect infestations have led to poor harvests and lack of pasture in parts of Niger, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Burkina Faso. Communities are also dealing with high food prices and reduced cash flow from migrant workers sending money back to their families from Libya and the Ivory Coast.

Unless urgent measures are taken now, the Sahel region could experience a major food crisis.

Red Cross response in west Africa

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has already released over £500,000 to help 70,000 people, in advance of the full assessments of the affected countries.

In Mauritania, where assessments have already been completed, the Red Cross plans to help over 10,000 households for the next year. The programme will include: emergency relief distributions; water and sanitation; and activities to reduce future risks, through more resilient livelihoods.

During recent assessments in Mauritania, the Red Cross found the lack of rain had seriously affected people’s ability to grow crops. As a result, in rural villages, such as Tchout, all the men and some women have moved to towns in search of work.

In Tchout, the Red Cross team found two in twelve children were already malnourished. The money and food sent home by those who have left to work elsewhere does not go far.

Halima, a 32-year-old mother of four boys, said: “Eight months ago, my husband went to the capital to work as a laborer. But since then he’s only been able to send me 25kg of rice and 5kg of oil.”

Food shortages in Mauritania

Another village, Tenwakoudeil, is in a similar situation where agricultural production is non-existent and farmers are struggling to feed their animals. To survive, they have started selling them at lower prices and many men have gone to Nouadhibou, a coastal city, to fish.

Access to safe water and sanitation is also a major problem here. The only source of water for the village is a well 30 metres deep, which serves both people and animals.

In Tenwakoudeil, women’s weaving co-operatives and small-scale trading are practically the only economic activities that allow families to survive.

Slow response to east Africa food crisis

A recent report by Oxfam and Save the Children says tens of thousands of people have died unnecessarily during the current food crisis in east Africa because the international community, donor governments and humanitarian agencies didn’t respond quickly enough.

Clearly, we need to avoid such a situation in west Africa where once again the international community can see a crisis looming. In order to avert it, funds are needed now to help communities become more resilient before the crisis hits.

During 2004-2005, people in the Sahel faced a particularly severe drought, to which the British Red Cross responded by launching an emergency appeal. However, as the UN calculated at the time, $1 could have been spent to prevent a child becoming malnourished, whereas it cost $80 a day to treat a malnourished child.

The emergency response was necessary to save lives, but as always more could have been saved by acting earlier. Last year, the Red Cross acknowleged a similar situation when it published a report on the east Africa food crisis focussing on the need to support longer term food security to avoid future food crises.

Building resilience to food crises

In the village of Roti, this is exactly what the Mauritanian Red Crescent is doing, with support from other Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies. Like many other villages in Mauritania, families here are struggling with the effects of poor rainfall: their crops are failing and they have no money to buy the products needed to sow expensive drought-resistant grain.

High demand and low availability of food are pushing up prices. Normally, a sack of wheat costs £10, but villagers are now paying £17 per sack.

However, unlike other villages, gardening activities are fairly well developed in Roti, where the Mauritanian Red Crescent is teaching people to grow food that is less dependent on abundant rains. The results are encouraging, with families producing crops of melons, cowpeas and millet for home consumption and trading.

A responsibility to respond

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will be supporting the Mauritanian Red Crescent in addressing the looming food crisis by setting up a mobile unit to help with early detection and treatment of malnutrition. Over the coming year it also plans to address the root causes and reduce the risk of future food crises through a number of initiatives, which include:

•  providing grants to communities for livelihoods projects
• establishing community irrigated gardens with water system and solar panels
• raising awareness of famine early warning systems to help people have a better understanding of what and when to plant.

The British Red Cross don’t know yet whether it will launch an emergency appeal to respond to the food situation in west Africa, but what we do know is the more prepared we are to respond quickly the more lives we can save.

The British Red Cross’ Disaster Fund is a facility designed to rapidly allocate funds to disasters irrespective of whether they have a high media profile or not. So far, we’ve used our Disaster Fund to contribute £1 million to the Red Cross response in east Africa, which includes much of the early allocations of funding before the crisis was widely reported.

Early action in west Africa, before the crisis potentially peaks in the summer, will make a huge difference. If you would like to help us be better prepared for this and other future disasters please consider making a contribution today.

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Tags: Burkina Faso, Chad, East Africa, food crisis, Mali, malnutrition, Mauritania, niger, red cross, Sahel, Senegal, west Africa

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Oxfam and Save the Children yesterday published a report – titled A Dangerous Delay – on the food crisis in east Africa. It says that thousands of needless deaths occurred and millions of extra pounds were spent because the international community failed to take decisive action on early warnings of a hunger crisis in east Africa.

The importance of preparing for disasters

The humanitarian aid that was provided saved many lives, but we agree that taking action earlier would have saved even more.

An International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies report on the drought in east Africa, published in late 2011, concluded that governments, donors and humanitarian organisations must work together on a long-term approach, addressing the chronic underlying issues. It advocated a focus on preventing future crises through intelligent investment in sustainable change.

Generally speaking, funds invested in preparedness are several times more effective in avoiding crisis than similar funds invested in response. However, until there is a crisis donors tend not to allocate substantial funds to an operation.

In the Horn of Africa, regular droughts are a fact of life. It’s a complex web of factors – including conflict, food and fuel prices, and poverty – that can combine to cause the delicately balanced environment to tip towards scenes of desperate hunger.

The accuracy of the early warning systems has developed considerably in recent years and their predictions for drought in east Africa in 2011 in late 2010 were mostly correct. However, the systems do not predict when other factors, such a conflict and high food prices, will combine to make a bad situation worse.

In east Africa, Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies are always present. The Kenya Red Cross, for example, works longer term through a network of volunteers across the country who support agriculture, the rehabilitation of boreholes, and much more.

In June 2010, the British Red Cross donated £205,000 towards supporting the International Committee of the Red Cross’ work in Somalia. By April 2011, we had already donated over £500,000 to support drought, food insecurity and school feeding programmes in the region.

However it is hard to garner financial support in times when rains have fallen, crops are growing and livestock are multiplying – before the situation is a full blown crisis.This meant not enough was given before famine was declared, money which could have built people’s resilience and saved lives.

When, on 4 July 2011, the British Red Cross launched its East Africa Food Crisis Appeal, the situation was already so dire that in many cases emergency food aid was the only realistic option. But, while food aid undoubtedly saves lives, it doesn’t help build resilience, and can, in some cases, destabilise local markets and lock families into dependency.

So what is the solution?

There are no simple answers to the complex long term food crisis in east Africa, a disaster which has changed and evolved over time.

In areas of acute crisis and suffering food distributions or cash support are vital, we are unapologetic about saving lives through distributions of emergency food aid. But we also recognise that the broader crisis across east Africa is chronic and recurring, and needs a response which goes beyond food or cash relief.

This is why some of the funds raised by our appeal are also being used to help improve people’s resilience to future disasters. We are helping communities improve their livelihoods to better cope with chronic crises and reduce the risk of falling into a state of acute emergency. In each country, and indeed each community, the risks and therefore the required assistance will be different.

The complexity, fluidity and scale of the food crisis in east Africa means that no one agency, government or institution can provide the answer alone. International donors, humanitarian agencies, national governments and local communities must all work together.

The Red Cross strives to do its part to alleviate the suffering of the most poor and vulnerable by using our skills and expertise, as well as our network of volunteers –often from the very communities affected by the crisis – in the most effective way we can.

Donate to our East Africa Food Crisis Appeal

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Tags: drought, East Africa Food Crisis Appeal, famine, food security, livelihoods, resilience

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