The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
MOROCCO: The winter season has
hit Morocco this year with full force as heavy rains and floods invaded several southern cities and towns, causing numerous deaths and leading to a severe damage in the country’s infrastructure. As soon as the crisis hit the northern African country, Moroccan Red Crescent teams were ready to provide relief and rescue services to affected families and individuals through the organization’s local committees and through maintaining close contact with the central headquarters. Six hundred volunteers were mobilized and 50 local intervention teams were formed to respond to the emerging needs, as the organization’s warehouses were opened for the distribution of relief items such as blankets, mattresses, and hygiene kits aimed to 1,100 families. The Moroccan Red Crescent has also been collaborating with health, civil and military bodies to coordinate in relief services and in the delivery of food and non-food items, and in the provision of first aid, transport and psychosocial support.
SOUTH SUDAN: Providing clean water is essential during a cholera outbreak as it helps stop the spread of the disease through contaminated food and water. This is always done alongside promoting good hygiene and sanitation practices. During a recent cholera outbreak in South Sudan, the IFRC did just that, deploying a water and sanitation Emergency Response Unit to support activities being implemented by the South Sudan Red Cross. The unit is comprised of a group of eight engineers and a water production unit – which takes water from an unsafe source and cleans it to produce clean water for 40,000 people a day.