As a result of donors' extraordinary generosity, the American Red Cross-in coordination with partners-

• distributed emergency food to more than 1.6 million people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives through a partnership with the World Food Programme. A United Nations (UN) agency that has been providing food aid to survivors of natural disasters since 1963, the World Food Programme is a reliable partner with the expertise to help the American Red Cross get food quickly to those who need it most.
• supplied water storage units in the Maldives and offered technical assistance for long-term water supply and household sanitation programs in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
• rushed family tents, sleeping mats, cooking sets, insecticide-treated bed nets, hygiene kits and other relief supplies to more than 400,000 tsunami survivors.
• prevented epidemics by vaccinating nearly1.1 million children against measles and polio in Indonesia in conjunction with UN agencies and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• trained local psychosocial volunteers-including teachers, community leaders and clerics-who have assisted more than100,000 grieving survivors.

Workers administer an oral polio vaccine in Indonesia.

By the six-month anniversary of the tsunami, the American Red Cross had helped more than 3 million tsunami survivors, spending more than $110 million on emergency response activities in tsunami-affected countries.

The primary goal of emergency response was to ensure that survivors' basic short-term needs were met. Some of these activities will continue until survivors return to self-sufficiency. A secondary goal was to help these countries rebuild and emerge stronger for the future. These emergency phase activities laid the groundwork for the transition into long-term initiatives. The long-term Tsunami Recovery Program will address the needs of tsunami survivors over a period of approximately five years.