Red Cross Reaches 20,000 Villagers Isolated by Snowstorms in Albania

Written by Olga Bellido de Luna, special to RedCross.org

A young child came with her parents to collect a Red Cross food parcel.

February 25, 2002 — Hidden between the deep curves of the snow covered North Albanian Alps lie numerous villages where people have lived for generations. Electricity is scarce, water is sometimes unavailable, and traveling to the closest town can mean hours of trekking down and around mountains only to return on foot hours later.

The people are subsistence farmers and shepherds who grow crops and raise sheep or goats to feed themselves and others in the village. What little that may be left over is sold at the local town in the nearest valley — a day's walk up and down difficult terrain. Some of the more fortunate villages have mini-bus service, cutting the trip by foot almost in half.

Life is harsh in these villages of up to 300 families, but the people manage to survive the harsh winter cold by helping each other. Temperatures ushering in the 2002 New Year plummeted to 28 degrees Celsius below zero and snow fell more than two meters deep, cutting off the villages from each other and the world.

According to local media reports, at least five people perished in the cold. One was a baby less than a year old. Unrelenting snow storms made narrow dirt roads impassible, leaving villagers to survive with dwindling stocks of food from the autumn harvest.

"The villagers are used to snow because it snows every year," said Ilmy Cena, branch manager of the Kukes Branch of the Albanian Red Cross. "But they were not prepared for this much snow. It was a surprise for everyone."

Red Cross volunteers bring food to an isolated village.

As the snow continued to pile up, thousands of people living amidst the northeastern Albanian mountains received emergency assistance from an extended community - the Red Cross. A team of Red Cross workers completed an assessment in the snow affected areas and met with local health officials, municipal authorities and people who have contact with the villagers, including marketers, minibus drivers and members of the media. Kukes Branch volunteers spoke with village leaders, while the national headquarters of the Albanian Red Cross in Tirana worked with government officials, the American Red Cross and others to provide assistance.

The Albanian Red Cross immediately provided emergency assistance to the villages. Volunteers distributed 2,500 blankets, 1,500 liters of oil, 21 metric tons of flour and 10,000 cans of white beans. Still, not all the villages had received assistance. More emergency help was needed. The American Red Cross responded by purchasing nearly 70 metric tons of wheat flour locally and bringing 10,000 food parcels with flour, sugar, pasta, rice, cooking oil and canned tomatoes from a regional warehouse in Bulgaria.

The food parcels were immediately available because of a partnership agreement between the American and Bulgarian Red Cross signed in 2000. Since then the regional Bulgarian Red Cross warehouse has quickly provided emergency relief supplies twice, reaching thousands affected by floods in Bosnia and internally displaced persons in Macedonia.

"The regional Bulgarian Red Cross warehouse is ready to go with basic survival supplies, including food and blankets that can be transported within hours to several countries in the Balkans," said Francois de la Roche, regional director of Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East for the American Red Cross. "Strategically placing these supplies translates into an efficient response that can save people's lives when disaster strikes, such as the present winter snow storms in Albania and as well as during civil unrest that often places the people living the Balkans in a precarious position."

Food stocks were depleted in January in many remote, mountainous villages.

The Albanian Red Cross in Tirana received the supplies, which were loaded onto smaller trucks carrying enough food parcels and locally purchased wheat for the families living in the villages. Each family would receive two food parcels and 30 kilograms of wheat.

In Vele and Gabriqe, two villages deeply hidden in the mountains, food stocks were scarce when Red Cross volunteers from the local Kukes Branch arrived with the food parcels and wheat flour. Families waited to be called by Red Cross volunteers who had previously researched information on the number of people needing assistance.

During the time the Red Cross volunteers were distributing the food parcels and wheat, the faces of the villagers showed signs of relief. Life would return to normal following the harsh winter's snow that affected them.

The American Red Cross assisted the Albanian Red Cross and its local volunteers with delivering emergency food assistance to more than 20,000 people.