American Red Cross and Tsunami Recovery Efforts: One Year Later

WASHINGTON, Monday, November 21, 2005 — When the Indian Ocean tsunami washed away coastlines of more than a dozen countries on December 26, 2004, communities around the world responded with overwhelming generosity. Today, one of the largest coordinated relief efforts ever mounted is helping to restore hope to the survivors of this disaster and the American Red Cross is one of many humanitarian organizations still working to help tsunami survivors. More than 10 million people have been assisted by the American Red Cross tsunami relief and recovery efforts.

With more than $567 million received, the American Red Cross is implementing and overseeing programs united by a common theme – community restoration. By working with local communities, the Red Cross ensures that these programs are comprehensive and sustainable.

In June 2005, the American Red Cross established the long-term Tsunami Recovery Program, which focuses on an identified set of core competencies: community health and disease control, disaster preparedness and community restoration and rebuilding. While we have transitioned to providing long-term recovery support, we are still responding to ongoing humanitarian needs in the most severely affected areas. With the help and support of our partners, from both within and outside the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), we are able to avoid duplication of services and streamline relief and recovery efforts to reach survivors as quickly and effectively as possible.

The strength of the American Red Cross comes from being part of the overall Movement. We operate internationally with the assistance and coordination of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which consists of 183 national societies around the world. For this disaster, we work closely with host Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, local governments and our other valuable partners such as NGOs and United Nations agencies.

“Having just returned from the region, it was inspiring to see communities themselves, assisted by the Red Cross, involved in their own recovery efforts,” said Gerald Anderson, senior director, Tsunami Recovery Program.

Ongoing American Red Cross Programs:

• The campaign to eradicate polio in Indonesia is targeted to reach 23.4 million children – the third round is scheduled for late November.
• Our cash for work community clean up programs are operating in 19 villages in Indonesia and in Matara and Hambatota in Sri Lanka. These programs provide short-term income for tsunami survivors, while helping to create a cleaner and healthier environment. The programs will benefit approximately 18,000 people.
• In Tanzania and Indonesia, we’ve reached over 7.8 million beneficiaries with our measles campaign, bed nets to prevent malaria and other health services.
• Our psychosocial support programming has been conducted in the Maldives and is currently ongoing in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Institutes of higher learning are adopting our program model into their curricula. These programs aim to reach over 400,000 people.
• The American Red Cross is working on water and sanitation projects on the remote island of Pulo Aceh, Indonesia, and we are developing additional plans to reach 140 villages in the months ahead. Together, our water and sanitation projects are targeted to reach over one million people.
• We are in the early phase of our disaster preparedness planning, where we will provide guidance for family linking activities and increase the capacity of local Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and communities to prepare for and respond to disasters.

For a more comprehensive list of American Red Cross Tsunami Recovery Program projects and statistics, please visit our website, www.redcross.org/tsunamirelief.

The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.