Round-up: Red Cross responds to emergencies in Guatemala and Croatia

The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.

GUATEMALA: The Guatemalan Red Cross continues to support individuals affected by a strong earthquake that shook the region of San Marcos on July 7.  More than 1,000 volunteers from 20 branches on the national level activated their contingency plans, with the aim to ensuring the safety of vulnerable people through their national intervention teams. These teams are made up of volunteers and technicians specialized in providing assistance like water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, as well as psychosocial support. Fulfilling its auxiliary role to national and local authorities, the Red Cross has installed a base camp located at its San Marcos branch, where hygiene kits, kitchen kits, ponchos, water purification filters, and tarpaulins have been delivered and will be distributed to affected families.  The Guatemalan Red Cross will continue providing humanitarian aid to hundreds of families affected by the earthquake in the areas of community health through its medical tours and psychosocial support, distribution of safe water, hygiene promotion and promotion of healthy nutrition habits as well as strengthening of institutional capacities to address the most urgent needs in the area.

CROATIA: In mid-May, heavy rainfall led to severe flooding across north-eastern Croatia, as well as parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the three countries. Throughout the sixty days since the onset of this disaster, Croatian Red Cross teams have been working to help those in greatest need.  Over 700 trained volunteers and hundreds of spontaneous volunteers donated over 112,000 hours of work in the past two months. Together with the Croatian army, they have provided over 95,000 hot meals, and 150,000 ready-to-eat meals, feeding those affected by the floods. Dehumidifiers have been made available to enable families to dry out their houses, once it is cleared as safe to do so by the authorities. With many years of experience responding to the psychosocial impact of emergencies, Croatian Red Cross teams of specialized volunteers were deployed to the affected regions in the aftermath of the disaster. To support the psychological well-being of the persons affected, the Croatian Red Cross also provided tracing service for families unable to reach their loved ones to reconnect. In the coming weeks, the second phase of cash transfers will begin. The road to recovery will be a long one for those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed by the floods, but the Croatian Red Cross will continue to help them for as long as is needed.

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