The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
JAPAN: Between September 8 and 10, over 120,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes as 
severe flooding inundated areas of northern and central Japan. The levels of rainfall were unprecedented. The Japanese Red Cross Society activated its emergency response systems and personnel from its branches in Tochigi, Ibaraki and Tokyo prefectures have been helping in relief efforts. Teams have been distributing blankets, emergency kits and sleeping kits to people who fled their homes and took shelter in temporary evacuation centres set up by the government. Eight medical teams have been deployed to assess the welfare and needs of people housed in the evacuation centres and surrounding areas.
VANUATU: On March 13, Tropical Cyclone Pam, a category 5 tropical storm tore across the south-west Pacific region. Over 200,000 people across five Pacific Nations countries were affected. Vanuatu was the hardest hit but Tuvalu, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea did not escape unscathed. Six months later, many communities in Vanuatu are still trying to recover from what is considered to be one of the most destructive disasters in the country’s history. Over a two year timeframe, the Red Cross aims to help close to 70,000 people through programs that support their long term recovery and reduce the risks that they face from future disasters.