Category: Emergencies

Monday Movement update #12

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Here’s your weekly update on what different members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement* are doing.

Men unload food bags from a truck in PakistanPakistan conflict: “Every time we entered a village, hundreds of people asked for help.” The ICRC, the only international humanitarian organization active in Swat and Lower Dir in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, has started to help those affected by conflict.

Protecting albinos in Burundi and Tanzania: Dozens of people with albinism have been murdered and their body parts sold in Burundi and Tanzania in the past few months. The Red Cross is providing humanitarian aid and support to their families and is defending their right to live in dignity.

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Mission accomplished in Bangladesh

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I was somewhere outside of Dhaka with just a driver, a copy of the Lonely Planet and one word of Bengali when I fully realised the enormity of the task that lay head of me. I put my trepidation to one side as my car rolled up the gangplank and on to the first of many ferry crossings I was to encounter in the coming month. I’d only landed in the country a few hours earlier and now I was on my way to the port town of Chittagong in the south east of Bangladesh. This was the first time I’d arrived in the immediate aftermath of a big disaster and I had a job to do.

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Monday Movement update #11

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Here’s your weekly update on what different members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement* are doing.

Sri Lanka conflict: More than 250,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Sri Lanka. They need food, water, medical care, security and to know the fate of their loved ones.

Children wash clothes in PakistanPakistan conflict: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an emergency appeal to help the Pakistan Red Crescent Society meet the humanitarian needs of 140,000 people displaced from areas of fighting. The ICRC is stepping up its support for the civilians affected.

Polio in west Africa: There have been outbreaks of polio in some west African countries that had not reported a case of the disease in over a decade. Seven thousand Red Cross volunteers in 14 countries have been taking part in a major campaign to immunise children. More

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Bragging for a cause

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Most of the time I’m far too English to brag but it’s for a good cause so please indulge me – you see I want to show you a picture of one of the places I’ve had the opportunity to work with the Red Cross.

Maldives island

Yep, it’s the Maldives.

Although my day job at the Red Cross is international writer, I’m also a trained member of our logistics emergency response unit (ERU). This means I’m part of a roster and every year I spend one month being on-call 24/7. If a major disaster happens, such as the Caribbean hurricanes last year, then the four-member team is ready to be deployed immediately to help deliver and distribute relief items.

Obviously the chances of being deployed every year are pretty slim so it’s important we keep up our skills, which is done each year by a week-long training session involving a simulated emergency – I’d tell you more about this but my colleague Clare has just written a particularly amusing blog about the whole thing.

Anyway, back to my bragging. More

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Monday Movement update #10

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Here’s your weekly update on what different members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement* are doing.

A man lies on a bed in a Zimbabwean clinicSri Lanka conflict: Displaced people in Sri Lanka not only need food, water and medical care. Thousands need to know whether relatives are alive and well. Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia, explains how the organisation is helping.

Cholera in Zimbabwe: The Federation believes it’s likely Zimbabwe will see its hundred thousandth case of cholera sometime this week. More

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Fintastic logistics training

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Another week, another country, another training course. This time I was in Finland, in a place called Tampere, which is Finland’s second biggest city. The Finns are quite keen on ranking things by size I discovered. It was here on the banks of the Tammerkoski Rapids in south-western Finland where the Nokia company was first set up. This was before it relocated to the town of Nokia and took on the name. Lucky really as “Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä connecting people” isn’t quite so snappy a slogan!

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Monday Movement update #9

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Here’s your weekly update on what different members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement* are doing.

Swine flu: More than one week after the peak of the H1N1 crisis, terraces, squares and public places in Mexico City are once again packed to capacity.

Wounded civilians in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka conflict: As the ICRC stands ready to carry out its humanitarian work hundreds of seriously wounded patients blocked in the conflict area have been waiting in vain for desperately needed medical care.

Pakistan: The latest fighting in Pakistan’s North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP) has caused civilian casualties and massive displacement. The head of ICRC delegation in Pakistan comments on their response. More

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Water way to see Austria

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Sometimes I look at my life and wonder how I end up in the situations I find myself in. Karma? Kismet? Serendipity? These days it’s often down to this amazing Movement that I work for which has some magical ability to make me sign up to do things I would ordinarily find myself running away from and so this is how I ended up in Austria purifying water from a duck pond and only dreaming of eating Sachertorte.

The team at the raw water tank

As an Aquarian and a spa bunny, I’m quite a fan of H2O but this is the first time I got to understand how much time and effort (and money) go into producing clear, clean drinkable water. It is thanks to the Austrian Red Cross (ARC) that I now have an appreciation of this. I also have to thank the ARC and particularly the Austrian water and sanitation specialised water emergency response unit for showing me the alternative delights of Austria many of which are not featured in the Lonely Planet guidebook and through the fortunes of serendipity or a good search engine I am now able to share with you. So in no particularly order here is my list of the top five alternative Austrian must dos. More

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