Sebastien Carliez in Amman
The Algerian Red Crescent has sent relief items and mobilized First Aid volunteers after heavy rains and flash floods killed at least 43 people in the country's eastern provinces over the past ten days. Twenty tonnes of assistance including blankets, clothes, buckets, tins of food, oil, coffee and milk for infants, were released from Algerian Red Crescent emergency stocks, and sent by trucks from the capital Algiers to the hardest hit areas.

"Volunteers in our local committees immediately went to the affected sites to assist victims as hundreds were

This Operations Update is Intended for Reporting on Emergency Appeals
Launched on: 12 November 2001 for 3 months for CHF2,034,000: (USD 1.19 million/EUR 1.38 million): Beneficiaries: 6,453. (note: Provisional Final Report) Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) Allocated. CHF 100, 000

"At a Glance"

Appeal coverage: 142%
Related Appeals 01.54/2002 MENA Regional Programmes

SPEECH/02/156
Mr Poul Nielson
European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
ECHO 2001

Launch of The Annual Review of the Humanitarian Aid Office

Press room, 16 April 2002

I am happy to have this opportunity to present 'ECHO 2001', the latest Annual Review of the Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office, which details the work of ECHO during 2001.

The Review is intended to reach various audiences with a clear message about ECHO's activities in providing relief to those who are most vulnerable in crises, whether natural or man-made.

This Ops Update is intended for reporting on emergency appeals.
Launched on 12 November 2001 for CHF 2,034,000 (USD 1.19 million/ EUR 1.38 million) for three months.
Operation extended through 12 March 2002 to meet additional needs.
DREF Allocated: CHF 100, 000
Beneficiaries: 6,000 families
Period covered: 29 December 2001 until 12 February 2002
(last Ops Update issued. 10 January 2002); Final report expected in April 2002

"At a Glance"

Appeal coverage: 133.8%

Launched on 12 November 2001 for CHF 2,034, 000 for three months
Disaster relief emergency fund (DREF) Allocated: CHF 100,000
Beneficiaries: 6,000
Period covered: up to 28 December 2001
"At a Glance"

Appeal coverage: 125.6%
Related Appeals: North Africa regional programmes 01.60/2002
Outstanding needs: Covered

Global temperature in 2001: second warmest on record
The global average surface temperature in 2001 is expected to be the second warmest on record, 0.42=B0C above the 1961-1990 average. The warmest year in the 1860 to present record occurred in 1998, according to records maintained by Members of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Nine of the ten warmest years have occurred since 1990, including 1999 and 2000, when the cooling influence of the tropical Pacific La Niña contributed to a somewhat lower global average (0.29=B0C and 0.26=B0C

Azzedine Layachi
(Azzedine Layachi, presently conducting research in Algeria, teaches politics at St. John's University.)
PIN 79

On November 10, 2001, heavy rains flooded many parts of Algeria, causing hundreds of deaths and damaging thousands of houses and businesses, mostly in the neighborhoods of Bab el-Oued, Frais Vallon and Beaux Fraisier in western Algiers, capital of the country. The torrential downpour, which ironically followed a national prayer for rain, buried buildings and their occupants under tons of mud sliding with great

Since the end of November, GTZ experts have been providing emergency aid in Algeria following the flood disaster on 10 November. More than 600 people lost their lives and around 6000 are now homeless.

Approximately DM 1.5 million has been made available for emergency-aid measures. The immediate task is to supply urgently needed materials and support for the clean-up operation. This includes mobile flushing units, mini-excavators, pumps and generators, as well as advisory services for Algerian wastewater disposal experts on

Launched on 12 November 2001 for CHF 2,034,000 for up to three months.
DREF Allocated: CHF 100,000
Beneficiaries: 6,000 families
Period covered: 20 -30 November