Six months after a massive earthquake struck central Chile on 27 February, Chilean Red Cross (CRC) will continue to give priority to its shelter and health activities and will boost recovery and risk reduction programmes in a line with a new plan of action, extended from 12 to 24 months. To support the CRC operation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is increasing its appeal by just over one million Swiss francs, to 14.1 million (13.3 million USD/10 million Euros). The disaster left 512 people dead, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands without a home or a livelihood.
“We must do everything we can to avoid people falling into poverty, to ensure families once again find a way to make a decent living and have access to health services in the regions where hospitals were severely damaged, until they can be repaired or rebuilt,” explains Gustavo Ramirez, the IFRC’s Regional Representative. “In addition, ensuring transitional shelter for tens of thousands of homeless families remains a priority, especially in rural areas. The freezing temperatures and high winds brought by the cold front this winter have presented some challenges, but we continue our work to improve the living conditions of people affected by the earthquake".
To date, more than 22,000 families have received transitional shelter assistance (tents or plastic sheeting), and 750 families have received construction materials and tools to repair their damaged homes. In addition, an initial 280 families have received individual, non-transferable debit cards which can be used to buy some 200 US dollars’ worth of tools and construction materials through a network of designated hardware stores. This is the Chilean Red Cross ‘Tarjeta Red’ (Reparation and development card) cash transfer programme, designed to help 8,400 families rebuild or repair their homes. Additional CRC volunteers will be trained to support and monitor the programme.
The IFRC appeal will also finance health care for 10,000 families over two years, preventive health care for at least 90,000 people as well as water and sanitation services for up to 10,000 people. Some 2,500 vulnerable families - fishermen, farmers or workers in small industries in the most affected zones - will receive support in the form of seeds, fertilizer, tools, cash grants as well as training, to help them make a living once again. Boats will be purchased for fishermen in the coastal area devastated by the tsunami that followed the massive earthquake.
Vital psychological support programmes to help people overcome the shock of having lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods, are being strengthened, with the training of more than 200 CRC volunteers. Strong aftershocks are still being recorded - feeding people’s fear of buildings and general trauma.
In addition, the Chilean Red Cross is training members of its national response teams in emergency health, water and sanitation, and hygiene promotion. They will be assigned to Red Cross branches across Chile, with a focus on the north of the country, which sits on a major fault line and is especially vulnerable to a major quake, according to seismologists.
“An essential objective of our revised appeal is to strengthen the disaster preparedness and risk reduction programmes of the Chilean Red Cross in more than 30 communities, in coordination with the government’s national response plan, to better protect vulnerable communities from future disasters,” points out Gustavo Ramirez. “Red Cross staff and volunteers are being trained in risk mapping and early warning systems, and more effective communications systems are being installed between branches and headquarters. Through workshops and regular simulation exercises, the communities themselves will also be engaged in identifying risks in their environment, and participating in the design and implementation of measures to counter those risks and mitigate the humanitarian consequences of disasters.”
View the emergency appeal.