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JOINT IFRC - ICRC - N.S. BRIEFING NOTE:
Attn: Information Department and International Department of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Geneva, 14 January 2010
Ref.: NS 10/003 - JOINT IFRC ICRC Communications Update 1
Dear colleagues,
Apologies to those National Society members who may be receiving this update twice, as we are working to be able to consolidate the distribution lists of IFRC and ICRC.
Situation
An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck Haiti on Tuesday, inflicting severe devastation in the capital Port-au-Prince and Haiti's West Province. Little is known about the humanitarian situation in earthquake-affected areas outside the capital.
The population in Port-au-Prince and other affected areas have spent a second night in the open. Frantic search and rescue activities have been continuing as international relief operations grind into action. For now efforts to assess the extent of this huge disaster are continuing. While no accurate figures are yet available the number of dead and injured is expected to be in the thousands and as much as 3 million people appear to have been affected.
IFRC response
IFRC is coordinating the Movement response. The Federation regional representative has arrived in Port-au-Prince. Both the IFRC president and Secretary-General are expected to travel to Haiti over the coming days. More details will be provided around this visit as soon as they become available.
On 13 January, IFRC launched a preliminary emergency appeal for 10.1 million Swiss francs (10 million US dollars, 6.8 million euro) to assit 20,000 families (some 100,000 beneficiaries) for nine months. The appeal is based on a first quick assessment. It will be revised in a few days based on updated information and new assessment.
Red Cross volunteers in Haiti are continuing to assist the injured and homeless. The Haitian Red Cross prepositioned stocks of emergency items are being used to assist earthquake survivors. The Federation is sending kitchen kits, personal hygiene articles, blankets and tarpaulins from its Panama warehouse.
A FACT team is deploying to Haiti later today. It includes specialists from emergency health, water and sanitation, reporting, shelter and telecommunications.
Several Emergency Response Units (ERUs) from different National Societies are also been sent/been deployed. So far, they include:
- 1 logistics ERU from the Swiss Red Cross
- 2 shelter ERUs from National Societies from the Benelux countries, French Red Cross and American Red Cross
- 1 telecommunications ERU from Spanish Red Cross
- 1 mobile basic health units from Finnish, French, Swedish and German Red Cross
- 1 field hospital (Norwegian and Canadian Red Cross)
- The Dominican Red Cross is also providing very helpful assistance on the other side of the border especially for water and sanitation.
This list is based on the latest situation report sent by the IFRC's Americas zone in Panama. It will be updated on a regular basis.
Main key messages:
1. The most urgent needs are: search and rescue, emergency health care, providing clean water, emergency shelter, restoring family links, logistics, and telecommunications.
2. Coordination both within the Movement and with external partners is essential to ensure a quick and efficient response.
3. One of the major priorities is to assess and identify the needs to make sure the right kind of help gets to the right location. Therefore it is crucial to establish and guarantee logistical capacity, set up telecommunications in the affected area and assess security conditions.
ICRC action
The ICRC is working closely with its Red Cross partners, especially the Haitian Red Cross and the IFRC, which is coordinating international Red Cross and Red Crescent relief efforts. Haitian Red Cross staff and volunteers are involved in the ongoing search and rescue efforts despite the fact that many of them remain unaccounted for.
An ICRC-chartered aircraft carrying 11 expert staff has left Geneva for Port-au-Prince this morning. They include engineers, a surgeon and specialists in reuniting families separated by disaster as well as economic security, logistics and IT specialists.
A second ICRC plane carrying 40 tonnes of mainly medical material is expected to leave Geneva this afternoon. The cargo includes specialised kits to help treat the wounded and a kit sufficient to cover the basic health needs of a population of 10,000 people over a period of three months. The plane is due to arrive in Port-au-prince or nearby on Friday.
Yesterday, ICRC staff based in Port-au-Prince were able to visit several public hospitals that are still functioning, and started to provide them and Haitian Red Cross headquarters with emergency medical supplies stockpiled before the disaster struck. The supplies included medicines and other medical items needed to treat about 200 hospitalized surgical patients and basic drugs for 1,000 patients with general health problems.
The ICRC delegation in Port-au-Prince has also been focusing on repairing its own essential infrastructure such as telecommunications facilities and on consulting other humanitarian organizations to gain a clearer idea of the situation. The delegation is getting ready to provide support for Red Cross specialized units arriving from several countries.
Mortal remains
The ICRC aims to support all efforts to ensure that the bodies of the dead can be recovered and identified for the benefit of their families. It is putting its forensic expertise at the disposal at different organizations on the ground handling this sensitive task.
As ICRC forensic expert, Ute Hofmeister explains: "There is a widespread myth that dead bodies may be the cause of epidemics in natural disasters. This is not the case. The bodies of people that have died in a natural disaster do not spread disease, since they have died of trauma and not disease. Hasty and uncoordinated disposal of the bodies for example in mass graves or by cremation should be avoided at all cost, as it will make it impossible to identify them later on and to inform their families. If there is a lack of storage space the temporary burial of bodies may be an option."
Family Links
The ICRC has set up a special website to help thousands of people within Haiti and abroad who have lost contact with their loved ones. The address is www.icrc.org/familylinks
Movement coordination
The American, Canadian, French and Spanish Red Cross Societies have delegates in Haiti.
IFRC and ICRC Information delegates
An IFRC information officer, Gennika Mayer, has arrived in the Dominican Republic, and is leaving immediately for Port-au Prince. There will also be a DM delegate who will be available shortly for interviews. Gennika is trilingual (French, English and Spanish) and will have access to a satellite phone. We will give out her contact numbers as soon as we receive them.
Maude Froberg (in the IFRC New York office) is facilitating media relations for the zone and the National Societies in the region. She will also travel to Haiti shortly.
The Federation head of media and public relations Unit, Paul Conneally, will leave on 15 January to Haiti to coordinate communications efforts. The current Federation's communications manager for southern Africa, Matthew Cochrane, will arrive in Geneva on Friday to reinforce and lead the Geneva media and external communications team during Paul's mission to Haiti.
The ICRC is sending an information delegate, Simon Schorno, from Geneva to Haiti. The Canadian Red Cross, the American Red Cross as well as Netherlands Red Cross are also sending information delegates. The Federation Panama office is sending an audio-visual officer to gather footage and photos.
The latest contact information for all information delegates will soon be posted on FedNet.
Photos can be downloaded from the Cumulus link : http://av.ifrc.org/Standard/i-sendBasket.index2.jsp?basketID=G5TVBL93WKD19HSVYJ4DVF7UR2
Online resources
· A special page on the earthquake response has been created at http://www.ifrc.org/haiti/
· You find the latest ICRC update on this link: http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/haiti-update-140110
· You can also follow our updates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/federation
· All internal materials are available on FedNet: https://fednet.ifrc.org/haiti
· An IFRC photo slideshow on Flickr has been created, which can be embedded on your National Society's website. Once embedded, this slideshow will automatically update with new photos as received. Please share the following code with your web team:
<iframe align="center" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?set_id=72157623207618658" width="350" height="300" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><center><small>Created with <a href="http://www.flickrslideshow.com">flickr slideshow</a>.</small></center>
IFRC contacts
Geneva
Jennifer Clarke, Internal communications manager; + +41 79 251 7381
Panama:
Pilar Forcen, communications manager for the IFRC Americas zone, + 507 6672 3170
Manuel Rodriguez, PADRU information officer, + 507 66 79 43 34
New York:
Maude Froberg, communications manager, IFRC New York +1 212 338 0161
ICRC contacts
Anna Schaaf, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 22 71 or +41 79 217 32 17
Marçal Izard, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 217 32 24
The ICRC - working to protect and assist people affected by armed conflict
Find out more: www.icrc.org
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