Canadian Red Cross Emergency Response Unit Kit

Date / Period
2015
Place
Ottawa
Object Type
Medical Equipment
Credit
Canadian Red Cross
Topics
Disaster Management

On April 25, 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit one of the world’s most inaccessible – and therefore most vulnerable – regions: the heavily populated Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The quake left 2.8 million Nepalese displaced, and one million in need of food, clean drinking water, and sanitation systems. This Emergency Response Unit kit contains basic necessities like ready to eat meals (MREs), a water bottle and filter, sleeping bag, toilet paper and a first aid kit for Red Cross aid workers who were deployed during the response.

More than 8,800 people were killed by the quake, and nearly 18,000 were injured. Over 500,000homes were destroyed and 300,000 partially damaged. Nepal’s mountainous terrain made it more than usually difficult to deliver humanitarian aid and relief supplies after the disaster: many villages were already impossible to reach by vehicle; others could not be reached by helicopter either.

Volunteers and staff of the 50-year-old Nepalese Red Cross Society immediately responded to the disaster by participating in search and rescue efforts, and administering first aid to the wounded. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies mobilized to transfer relief supplies from neighbouring regions, and contributed to the initial emergency response through its Disaster Relief Emergency Response Fund. National societies like the Canadian Red Cross opened appeals for funds to support affected communities.

The Canadian Red Cross sent an initial team of 20 delegates to Nepal to provide basic healthcare services in a remote area where the district hospital was destroyed. They set up a Basic Healthcare Emergency Response Unit (ERU), a tented field hospital, in the community of Dhunche close to the earthquake’s epicentre. There, Canadian and Philippine Red Cross medical staff and support workers worked around the clock to treat wounded survivors in this devastated area, with a special focus on maternal and child health. When the Canadian Red Cross team eventually returned to Canada, the tented hospital was donated to the Nepalese Red Cross and the Ministry of Health and Population for continued use in Dhunche and to build local capacity to respond to future disasters.

In the early recovery phase of the humanitarian response, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement helped restore and replace damaged water and sanitation systems, and distribute building materials. Training residents in the construction of more earthquake-resistant homes was another aspect of their work.

The Canadian Red Cross is committed to continue supporting the Nepal Red Cross Society, the Rasuwa District Hospital in Dhunche and those affected by the earthquake through a recovery plan focusing on shelter, sanitation, livelihoods, health and disaster preparedness.

The Canadian Red Cross’ response to the 2015 Nepal earthquake was only one of 236 international missions the society undertook in 51 countries around the world, over the course of 2014-15. Canadians’ donations to Red Cross emergency appeals make these humanitarian responses possible.

Canadian Red Cross Emergency Response Unit Kit

 
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