District 1260 International Service Committee
Congo - Goma Volcano Disaster
Updates from 19 Jan 2002
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C.
Update on 26 Jan 2002 [by Les Lee]
The situation at
present concening Congo is:
Rotary projects
·
Aquaboxes Currently have 53 Aqua 30's (£13,000 worth for nearly
2 million litres water) and 160 standard Aquaboxes with clothing etc and
another 76,000 litres ready to go as soon as we can find a carrier and reliable
distributor. Local Radio in Derby has been used to attract transportation.
·
Shelter Boxes
No requests at present. But 210 boxes have been sent via Feed the Children to the Herat
·
Emergency Box
No response to request for information
External
Agencies (NGO’s)
·
Red
Cross Are providing
aid now and require funds. Their costs for 3 months is estimated at £1.5
million
Contact Mike
Goodhand, British Red Cross, 9 Grosvenor Crescent, London. SW1X
7EJ
·
Save the
Children Are providing aid
now and require funds. Their office in Goma has been destroyed
Contact John Mc Cann, Save the Children, 17
Grove Lane, London. SE5 8RD
·
Feed the
Children Have an assessment team in the area, but are stretched with
recent support for Afghanistan
Contact Lesley Farley, Feed the Children, 2 Tavistock Industrial Estate,
Ruscombe Lane, Ruscombe, Twyford, Berks. RG10 9NJ
·
Merlin Are working in the area and are providing support with
Health Care and the fight the spread of disease.
This specialist organisation also needs funds for
equipment and medicines.
Contact Nigel Impey,
Merlin, 5-13 Trinity Street, Borough, London. SE1 1DB.
·
UNICEF This
organisation is working in the Area covering all aspects of welfare and
requires funds.
Contact Sheila Willis, UNICEF UK. Africa House 64-78 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NB
On behalf of RIBI I have contacted this organisation
and as a result been able to find the locations from which they are working. I
then made contact with clubs in the Congo and Uganda asking if the local Rotarians
could contact these locations in order to give help with such things as
practical skills, linguistics, logistics, transport, storage, manufacturing,
security, cultural, geographic, communications, or local suppliers. I have also
suggested to the agencies that they seek out local Rotarians for assistance.
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B. Update Tues 22 Jan 2002 [by Les Lee]
Congo Volcano Disaster
Hi everyone
Can you help?.
The latest information I have about the Aid going to the Congo is that
the British Red Cross, Save the Children and Merlin
are all involved in providing support for the thousands affected.
I realise there are always calls on your club funds but any help you can
give to these agencies no matter how small
would help.
For example Save the Children have staff on the ground in Rwanda are
preparing an emergency response to the displacement of the eastern Congo city
of Goma. Up to 400,000 have been forced to flee the immediate area due to the
eruption of the Mount Nyirango volcano. It is also estimated that up to half
the city of Goma, including the airport, has been destroyed by lava flows and
fire. Save the Children's offices and houses in Goma are amongst those
destroyed by the eruption. But staff have congregated in nearby Gisenyi from
where an
emergency response will be launched. Save the Children already have some
supplies in country and are now sourcing further supplies to provide support in
three key areas.
· Provision of emergency non-food items such as shelter, blankets,
clothing, pots and pans
· Support to local health systems to build capacity and prevent major
outbreaks of cholera
· Co-ordination family tracing work for separated children The rapid
response has been made possible by releasing resources from save the Children's
Emergency Reserve.
Merlin is Concentrating on the Health Care aspects to avoid spreading
of disease.
British Red Cross
9 Grosvenor Crescent, London SW1X
7EJ
Save the Children
17 Grove Lane, London SE5 8RD
Merlin
5 - 13 Trinity Street, London, SE1
1DB
Shelter Box Trust
'Chywood' Poldown, Helston, Cornwall, TR13 9NN
As far as our Box organisations are concerned they are all stretched to
capacity with support for Afghanistan. Shelter box have sent 210 Boxes via Feed
the Children to the Refugee camp in Heart. I am still awaiting news from
Aquabox and Emergency Box.
If you need any other information please contact me.
Les Lee
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A. First Note: Saturday
19 Jan 2002 [by Les Lee]
Congo Disaster
Hi everyone
You will have seen the reports on the volcano in the Congo and probably
wondering what Rotary are doing?
At the moment there is no direct appeal to Rotary but the situation is
being assessed to establish details of the agencies working in the area.
One organisation I know that is working in the area is MERLIN. Their
focus will be on Health Care, Medical Supplies, Countering Infection and Water
Borne Diseases. More information on Merlin can be found in their website http://www.merlin.org.uk
If anyone has information via your own contacts please let me know.
Les Lee
DISC