The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
MYANMAR: On March 20, inter-communal violence erupted in the town of Meiktila, around 150 km south of
Mandalay in central Myanmar. Hundreds of homes, shops and buildings were destroyed and over 11,000 people were displaced. Myanmar Red Cross volunteers have been on the scene providing first aid services and Red Cross ambulances have also been used to transfer more serious cases to local healthcare facilities. To help respond to the immediate humanitarian needs, the Myanmar Red Cross dispatched emergency relief items including family tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, jerry cans, blankets and mosquito nets from its warehouses in Yangon and Mandalay. These items are now being distributed in the affected areas. An emergency ‘Restoring Family Links’ team has also been sent to Meiktila to support families who may have become separated from their loved ones. Over 100 ‘safe and well’ messages have already been facilitated and the team has also helped 16 families to re-establish contact.
ZAMBIA: Rivers overflowing their banks across southern Africa have recently submerged communities and crops, but in central Zambia where no rivers flow, flooding has been the result of increased levels in the water table. The Zambian Red Cross Society, supported by the IFRC, has been assisting families in need since the onset of the flooding by supplying tents, mosquito nets, food and purifying the water supply.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Days after the heavy fighting that rocked Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, the security situation in the city remains very unsettled and the plight of casualties extremely worrying. Nearly 200 people wounded in clashes have been admitted to the city's main hospitals, including around 40 who are still awaiting emergency surgery. The hospitals, like the entire city, are currently without running water and a continuous supply of electric power; soon they will also be without fuel. Because they do not have adequate stocks of medicines, the main hospitals in Bangui can no longer admit new patients. The ICRC has delivered 150 litres of fuel to the Community Hospital, the city's main medical centre, for its generator. Central African Red Cross Society volunteers have assisted nearly 400 people by providing them with first aid or, in the most serious cases, by taking them to medical facilities. They are also helping to manage mortal remains at the mortuary and in the city's neighbourhoods, and to bury them. The ICRC is supporting their efforts by providing them with first-aid supplies, fuel and disinfectant.
GLOSSARY:
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross