The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
From packing of items to distribution, volunteers play a big role in carrying out relief efforts by Red Cross chapters greatly affected by cyclone Bopha.
Philippines: On December 21, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched a revised emergency appeal for Typhoon Bopha. Due to the rising scale of humanitarian needs, the appeal has almost quadrupled to enable the Philippine Red Cross to provide relief and recovery assistance to some 40,000 families (approximately 200,000 people) over the coming 18 months. As of December 19, the national disaster agency reports that 6.2 million people have been affected. Over 1,000 people were killed, and 841 are still missing. The Canadian Red Cross is accepting donations.
Maldives: Jerry Talbot, a Red Cross delegate, looks back on his visit to the Maldivian island of Dhuvaafaru where the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami struck on December 26, 2004. The last time Jerry visited Dhuvaafaru Island was in 2009, four years after the massive Indian Ocean tsunami swept across the Maldives, displacing the entire population Kandholhudhoo, one of the smaller islands in the northerly Raa Atoll. With no reef to protect it, the island was deemed unsafe and the Red Cross Red Crescent undertook the task of building an entirely new community for the population of 4,000 inhabitants on neighbouring Dhuvaafaru, a previously uninhabited, but safer island. The new community comprised of 600 houses, schools, health centre, roads, water and sewage systems and independent electricity supply. Returning almost four years later, Jerry recently visited the Dhuvaafaru island to see how the lives of people have changed since 2009.