“Here,”
says Roy Nibourette, 43, programme coordinator for the Red Cross
of the Seychelles and presses the buttons on his mobile phone.
“This is the last tsunami warning that the Disaster Centre
sent me by text message. There were several similar warnings
in the last few weeks. And just as many times, they told us
to relax again. Thank goodness.”
But what if it’s really serious and a tsunami like the
one that hit the Seychelles on 26 December 2004 is on the way?
Then Roy has just four hours. Four hours to rustle up his volunteers,
who would rush to the beaches by the big hotels, to warn local
bathers and backpackers of the impending disaster.
But how does Roy warn the people? By waving and yelling? All
the strength in his voice alone is not enough. In the future,
though, it will be different, because the German Red Cross has
brought megaphones, life vests and hooks, with which to haul
drowning people out of the dangerous currents. This equipment
is urgently needed so Roy and his volunteers can better respond
to future disasters.
“Yes,” says Roy, “we are lucky to live in
paradise, but since December 26, we know that the security and
freedom that this country radiates can be a dangerous illusion.”
It was a big day for the people of the Seychelles when the four-engine
Antonov cargo plane landed on 12 April, 2005 at Mahe international
airport. On board: relief goods from the German Red Cross valued
at 240,000 Euros. Equipment for disaster prevention, urgently-needed
medications, wheelchairs, tents, generators, and water pumps.
Also delivered were two cars – the first official vehicles
in the 15-year history of the Red Cross in the Seychelles. Until
the German Red Cross delivered the cars, with the exception
of ambulances, the National Society was totally reliant on private
vehicles to carry out its work.
“We are very thankful to the German Red Cross,”
says the President of the Seychelles Red Cross, Collette Servina.
“And we are looking forward to working together for a
long time.”
The tsunami on December 26 and the torrential rainfall two days
later showed how important it is to prepare for disasters.
Certainly, compared with the appalling death tolls experienced
by other affected countries, the Seychelles seems less hard
hit. Three dead, 57 injured and 500 homeless. Yet behind these
numbers lies greater suffering than simple statistics can ever
show. The tsunami caused great difficulties to the livelihoods
of fishermen and farmers across the archipelago.
Immediately after the tsunami, the German Red Cross sent a team
of experts to help the Seychelles Red Cross to assess the damage
and determine the needs. While the immediate priority was for
basic medicines and first aid, early warning systems and disaster
management were also discussed. Like all tsunami-affected countries,
the Seychelles had to find locally-appropriate ways to prepare
better for natural disasters. Thus, the German Red Cross wanted
to support the Seychelles Red Cross to train volunteers and
staff to disseminate early warnings, in addition to expanding
programs for first aid in response to accidents on roads or
at the beaches, and to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS.
As a result of the continuing collaboration between the two
Societies, the local Red Cross is able to offer more first aid
courses, like the one in the English River Clinic in Victoria.
“People’s interest in this course is big,”
says Roy Nibourette. “After the tsunami, people can see
just how much the Red Cross does. As well as new volunteers,
many existing volunteers have remained faithful to the Red Cross
and have renewed energy to do more, and we depend on them.”
The Seychelles Red Cross has trained 300 people in first aid
over the past five years. Sixty of them work as volunteers for
the organisation. In the future, first aid seminars in hotels,
schools (for teachers) and among the police are planned.
A further important component that the Seychelles Red Cross
wants to expand is HIV/AIDS education.
“The Red Cross wants to run campaigns at central, public
places so we can help reduce stigma,” says Bettina Burgthaler,
manager of the regional office of the German Red Cross in Nairobi,
Kenya. In December, 2004 there were 203 known cases of HIV in
the Seychelles. From January to March, the infection rate was
relatively high, with 17 new cases reported. But because of
stigma, it is suspected that the true figures are even higher,
and many patients don’t come to us until they are very
sick,” she says.
Apart from education courses, the Red Cross tries to reach people
with poster campaigns and information brochures.
The German Red Cross is in the process of finalising an agreement
with the Seychelles Red Cross for working together for the next
five years. Under the agreement, the German Red Cross would
give financial and organisational assistance.
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The
German Red Cross Antonov flight brought two small Toyota
vehicles, the first official vehicles in the 15 year history
of the Seychelles Red Cross, which has thus far been dependent
on private vehicles and ambulances.
Photo: Falko Siewert/German Red Cross
(p-SYC0016)
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On
board the German Red Cross auxiliary flight is equipment
for disaster preparedness, urgently needed medicines,
wheelchairs, tents, generators, water pumps and two small
Toyota vehicles, worth a total of 240,000 Euros.
Photo: Falko Siewert/German Red Cross
(p13144)
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The
Seychelles Red Cross uses loudspeakers during tsunami
early warning exercises, here with schoolchildren on the
beach of Anse Royale, in the south of Mahe Island. German
Red Cross supplies include megaphones, life jackets and
hooks to save people at risk of drowning.
Photo: Falko Siewert/German Red Cross
(p-SYC0005)
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The
Seychelles Red Cross deploys its three staff and some
100 volunteers to check on families affected by the tsunami
on Praslin Island.
Photo: Falko Siewert/German Red Cross
(p-SYC0001)
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Conrad
Bristol, 47, a farmer whose crops and animals were buried
under mud during a violent rainstorm after the tsunami,
on his farm.
Photo: Falko Siewert/German Red Cross
(p-SYC0008)
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