The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
GAMBIA: For the first time in 15 years, communities in Gambia found themselves without food and income following poor 
rainfall during the 2011–2012 harvest season. Families were forced to sell their assets and livestock, or survive on charity and foraging. The Gambia Red Cross Society, with assistance from the IFRC and the Government of Canada, aimed to provide immediate and long-term assistance to vulnerable communities in the North Bank Division and Lower River Region. Using a two-pronged approach, the Red Cross provided emergency life-saving interventions while also focusing on longer-term community resilience. Distributions of food, quality rice seeds and fertilizer addressed the immediate needs, and longer-term resilience activities concentrated on women-run vegetable gardens. The Red Cross provided these gardens with infrastructure support, training, drought-resilient seeds, proper fencing and new concrete-lined hand-driven wells.
ECUADOR: After four months of no rain in the south of Ecuador, people in the province of Loja are being dramatically affected by the 72 per cent drop in rainfall. In Loja, the economy is purely agricultural and livestock, so the lack of rainfall has caused losses of corn, peanut and bean crops, as well as a shortage of food and foliage for livestock. The provincial board of Loja and the Ecuadorian Red Cross, with the support of National Technical Risk Management, has begun activities in numerous locations, including under-served areas. The Ecuadorian Red Cross – as part of a multi-agency response with the National Secretariat for Risk Management and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries – conducted damage assessment and needs analysis. The assessment identified a total of 1,025 families who have been affected directly. Based on the initial damage assessment, the needs to be addressed immediately are food delivery kits, safe water storage tanks, home filters, local irrigation system restoration support, training for families, preparation of animal feed, health, hygiene promotion and water treatment. The IFRC will support this intervention through its emergency support Disaster Relief Emergency Fund, in coordination with the Ecuadorian Red Cross.
PAKISTAN: The Pakistan Red Crescent Society has assisted over 1,060 families affected by the recent monsoon floods which began in early August 2013. According to the National Disaster Management Authority, the floods have caused 84 deaths and 44 injuries. Over 81,600 people have been affected across various parts of the country, with over 4,300 houses damaged or destroyed. The provinces of Punjab and Sindh have been most affected. Floods also struck Balochistan in the west of the country and Khyber Pakhtunkwa in the northwest.
GLOSSARY:
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies