Note: The following appeal is now closed. You can support our ongoing work by donating to the Canadian Red Cross
The Canadian Red Cross has been putting Canadian funds to work in the affected areas since the tsunamis struck, and continues to support those in need every day.
Right now, Canadian donations are being used to save lives and alleviate suffering. We will use over $60 million Cdn to meet the immediate, emergency relief needs of those affected. The remaining funds collected will be needed over the next decade to help communities recover and rebuild.
Our long-term plans include providing basic health care, implementing psychosocial support programs to help survivors who have experienced incredible trauma, and funding the reconstruction of homes, schools or other important community centres. We will also help survivors regain their economic ability through job creation and support.
What your donation to the Canadian Red Cross buys:
Because of the widespread scope of this disaster in 13 countries, the cost of relief will differ from one area to another. Here is an idea of how your donation can make a difference:
A $70 donation has provided one family of six with hygiene items to last one month. The Canadian Red Cross purchased, compiled, packaged and sent 50,000 of hygiene kits to families in Sri Lanka. Each hygiene kit contained toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoos, toilet paper, soap, sanitary pads, razors, washing detergent and towels.
A $45 donation purchased a baby supplies kit containing diapers, soap, powder, oil and various items needed for infant care - 60,000 of these kits are being delivered to families with infants in Indonesia.
Your donations in action: How Red Cross is helping
Red Cross is committed to converting public and corporate generosity into immediate relief for those impacted by the tsunami disaster in Asia - and helping with recovery and rehabilitation for years to come.
Shipments of relief supplies from Canada
Over 1,100 metric tonnes of urgently needed relief items have been sent from Canada by the Canadian Red Cross, in collaboration with the Canadian Government (Canadian International Development Agency, Foreign Affairs and the Department of National Defence), to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, and the Maldives. These contained water purification sachets, large water containers and pumps, portable warehouses, flashlights, batteries, blankets, pharmaceuticals, and medical supplies and equipment.
We are constantly receiving lists of what’s needed from the field. Those goods are sourced - if we can’t find a sufficient amount of an item in Canada, we look around the world. Once found, the items are purchased, packaged and shipped, and then distributed to those in need.
Click here for detailed information on what was contained in the shipments.
Additional shipments to Sri Lanka and Indonesia are in the processing and packaging stage.
Delegates in the field
The Canadian Red Cross has a pool of highly-skilled, trained delegates ready to assist in disaster. Dozens Canadian Red Cross workers have been dispatched to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, and Myanmar.
As well, a medical team is ready to deploy from Canada to support hospitals in Sri Lanka and Indonesia as needed.
Transfer of Funds to support international Red Cross work
Canadians were among the most generous of donors worldwide to this catastrophe, and their contributions are supporting the massive relief operations undertaken by the international Red Cross in every affected country. Below, some highlights of the work your donations have helped fund:
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In the first two months of the response, some 700,000 people have received some form of assistance from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
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At least 22,000 Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and 76 medical and relief teams have been mobilized in the disaster-affected areas
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Of the 18 emergency response units (ERUs) deployed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the Federation), 17 remain active in Indonesia and Sri Lanka providing basic health care, water and sanitation, relief supply distribution and logistics assistance.
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By mid-February, 240 Red Cross/Red Crescent flights had arrived in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar with urgently needed relief goods.
Indonesia
Health care has been an urgent priority. In the earliest days, about 1,000 injured people were evacuated and cared for. Now, over 82,500 people have received medicine or care through Red Cross health posts, teams or hospitals. In addition to providing supplies to Indonesian hospitals, the Red Cross has established a 100-bed hospital with 39 staff.
125,000 people have received relief items and shelter has been provided by Red Cross to over 16,700. Hygiene kits, shelter materials, emergency medical supplies and household items like kitchen sets have been given to thousands.
Hundreds of volunteers from the Indonesian Red Cross - many of whom were personally affected by tragedy - mobilized to conduct search and rescue, provide first aid, distribute emergency and medical supplies, offer psychosocial support to traumatized people, bury bodies, and help locate and reunify family members. Safe drinking water and family parcels have been brought to 60,000 affected families in the Aceh Province.
Red Cross volunteers have collected early 44,000 bodies, and are helping identify human remains.
The family links program has helped 18,000 families find loved ones.
Pumps sent by the Canadian Red Cross and water purification powder from the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society have been transported to Meulaboh.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Singapore Red Cross are supporting the relief operation. More than 1000 tonnes of relief supplies have arrived at the centre, and 60,000 family kits are being assembled at a pace of 5,000 kits per day to meet the basic needs of up to 300,000 people.
Psychosocial programs to help deal with trauma are beginning now.
Sri Lanka
Two weeks after the tidal wave, 40,000 people were being assisted and housed in 66 Red Cross camps. Sri Lankan Red Cross Society (SLRCS) volunteers also provided support in other relief camps.
More than 8,000 SLRC volunteers have helped with relief operations. Services include first aid; basic health services and awareness; water, well cleaning; cooked meals; distribution of non-food relief items; distribution of tarpaulins, kitchen sets, blankets, etc; needs assessment and family linking services.
Local and international Red Cross workers have traveled to 142 centres for the displaced throughout the affected districts, equipped with mobile satellite phones to allow families to contact their relatives and let them know how they were. A 24 hour call centre service is also helping to facilitate family tracing and linking services.
Since the tsunami occurred, more than 177,000 people in Ampara, Galle, Hambantota and Matara have received food and relief items such as shelter supplies, essential household items, sleeping mats and mosquito nets and more than 33,600 have been sheltered.
Some 42,800 people benefit daily from water and sanitation activities which include the cleaning of wells and construction of latrines.
SLRCS volunteers are being trained in psycho-social work in relief camps in Trincomalee, Ampara and Batticaloa.
Water purification and sanitation activities have been undertaken and family links are being re-established in the worst affected areas. Red Cross has also helped authorities to transport bodies to families and identify human remains.
Thailand
More than 11,300 volunteers of the Thai Red Cross Society (TRCS) have provided 35,400 persons in all the affected provinces with food and other relief supplies. The Thai Red Cross was the lead agency in food distribution. In Phang Nga province, 200 to 300 volunteers working up to 15 hours a day in three TRCS mobile kitchens provided meals to some 2,500 people. Every day, survivors, rescuers and volunteers in Ban Muang received 5000 packs of food as well as fresh food from a mobile canteen. Tak Kua Pa district, a Red Cross mobile kitchen catered to 2,400 people who had been evacuated to a school and a temporary centre.
The TRCS also distributed fishing nets and sent construction materials and tools such as nails, hammers, saws and crowbars to the two worst-hit provinces of Phang Nga and Satun.
In the earliest weeks, 20,000 search and rescue volunteers were mobilized. Distribution of relief supplies was done, and Red Cross offered assistance in the identification of the dead and missing.
India
Since the disaster, 3000 Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) volunteers have assisted over 50,000 people. Services included rescue and transportation of injured people to hospital; tracing of missing persons; medical assistance; evacuation of survivors to temporary shelters; provision of drinking water; psychosocial support and distribution of food and other essential items including cooking utensils and hygiene articles; and burial services.
The IRCS provided the services of 25 doctors and 15 ambulances in Tamil Nadu relief camps.
By 4 January, the IRCS had distributed supplies including towels, bed sheets, tarpaulins and kitchen sets to people in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and completed needs assessments.
6,000 family packs have been provided in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Some 32,000 people received milk, mineral water, biscuits, kitchen utensils, blanket, bed sheets, towels, clothes, plastic sheeting and a bucket to carry water.
The IRCS also deployed five mobile water purification plants, donated by the Spanish Red Cross, that supply 50,000 litres of drinking water every day to approximately 1,000 people in Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
A Canadian Red Cross program manager is in India, assisting with the Red Cross assessment of needs.
Malaysia
An estimated 4296 people are homeless and receiving relief items from the Malaysian Red Crescent. Registering of beneficiaries, tracing and psychosocial activities are being conducted. The Iranian Red Crescent society has sent a consignment of relief items for the Malaysian tsunami affected population. Even two months later, 2,000 beneficiaries staying in shelters provided by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society still sleep there during the night but have returned to work.
Maldives
There is no Red Cross or Red Crescent society in the Maldives, but international Red Cross assessment and coordination teams were sent to Maldives in the days following the disaster. The relief items sent by the Canadian Red Cross are being distributed.
Red Cross has undertaken distribution of relief supplies (including food, tents, blankets, stoves and generators), basic health supplies and medicines to complement government services; and provision of water and sanitation services. Since the tsunami occurred, 24,400 people have benefited and more than 21,200 have been sheltered. More than 16,000 people were supplied with electrical power from 32 generators received through the Federation. Community service groups and teachers who work with more than 25,550 school children have been trained in psychosocial support.
Myanmar
The Federation has been distributing basic health kits and relief supplies, including tents, cans of beans and fish, and health supplies donated by the Iranian Red Crescent and the Canadian Red Cross. Workers are also supporting initiatives in infrastructure restoration, delivery of essential services and psychosocial training and counselling Coordination with other NGOs and government is ongoing. The Myanmar Red Cross provided basic items, including rice, cash for household purchases and school supplies to 310 families.
Seychelles
The Seychelles Red Cross is the only non-governmental organisation in the country working with the authorities to assess and respond to the needs of the most vulnerable. They are providing non-food items to families who lost basic household equipment, and bedding for 375 families obliged to evacuate. Damage and misery is being compounded by heavy rains brought on by a tropical storm.
The Years Ahead - Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
The years ahead will be difficult for the millions of people affected by this disaster as they strive to rebuild their lives and communities. With homes and whole villages demolished and livelihoods washed away, outside help will be required.
While responding to the desperate and urgent need now, Red Cross teams are also assessing long-term needs and planning now for rehabilitation activities. We work actively with local communities to develop appropriate plans, and communicate with other aid organizations and governments to limit duplication and ensure the unmet needs of the most vulnerable groups are addressed.