The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
RWANDA: The Rwandan Red Cross Society is currently assisting displaced people in flood-affected areas of the country. Recent heavy rain has affected water supplies and also damaged roads, schools, clinics and over 700 homes. The Rwandan Red Cross has warned that flood damaged water supplies could lead to contamination and that food insecurity is also an issue as many crops have been inundated. Local Red Cross committees in Rubavu, Nyabihu and Musanze have mobilized 90 volunteers to support authorities in rescuing flood victims. They are also distributing relief items to 300 households, offering psychosocial support, assisting communities to recover bodies, and tracing displaced children. The organization will target a further 560 households and 2,800 vulnerable and displaced people over the next three months.
EUROPE: For 22 years, the Red Cross Societies of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, along with the IFRC, have run CHARP, a project that provides effective medical, social and psychological assistance to individuals in the regions affected by the Chernobyl disaster. The main focus of the project remains thyroid cancer screening for people who were under 40 years old at the time of the nuclear accident and live in radiation contaminated areas.
GLOSSARY:
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
CHARP = Chernobyl Humanitarian Assistance and Rehabilitation program