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Central Europe: Heat Wave - Information Bulletin n° 2

Attachments

A number of glide numbers apply to the heat wave in Central Europe: HT-2007-000105-SRB, HT-2007-000105-ROM, HT-2007-000105-MKD, HT-2007-000105-MDA, HT-2007-000105-HRV

The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in 185 countries.

In Brief

This Bulletin is being issued for information only, and reflects the situation and the information available at this time. The Federation is not seeking funding or other assistance from donors for this operation at this time.

The International Federation undertakes activities that are aligned with its Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to achieve the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity."

Global Agenda Goals:

- Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

- Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

- Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.

- Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.

The Situation

Over the past few weeks the Central Europe Region was hit by an unusually strong heat wave that came from Africa. The highest Europe temperature of 43.3 degrees Celsius was measured in Podgorica, capital of Montenegro. High heat combined with high UV radiation lead to health crisis and threat to life. As a consequence of high heat, more than 30 persons died in Romania this summer while in Hungary the high temperatures may have hastened the deaths of up to 500 sick and elderly people between 15 July and 22 July.

The heat and dry conditions sparked a rash of fires causing deaths too. In Romania two people died and 26 were injured, while in Montenegro one person died in fires. In Macedonia as a consequence of forest fire near Bitola town 50 families, altogether 202 persons have been evacuated. Although the weather has become a bit cooler, with temperature now around 33-36 degrees Celsius across the whole region, it remained very dry causing serious problems in water supply in Montenegro and Albania.

Due to the heat and the careless behaviour of people Albania is currently fighting with 300 forest fires all over the country. As a consequence of the forest fire 150 people have been evacuated. Most of them are able to stay with their relatives. 60 people have been affected by the heavy smoke and needed medical care. In general Albania is facing serious difficulties with its electricity as well as its water supply, which has worsened in the last days of the heat wave. Normally the electricity is cut for five hours in urban and 12 hours in rural areas, but on Tuesday the whole population remained without electricity for hours. As a result of the electric power shortage the water pumps could not provide sufficient amount of water, therefore there are some parts where there has not been water available for the last two weeks. Although the government have mobilized water tanks, the needs have not been fully met due to lack of sufficient resources.

For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:

In Regional Delegation: Branimir Knezevic (Acting Head of Office and Regional OD Coordinator), email: branimir.knezevic@ifrc.org, phone: +36 1 248 3315, fax: +36 1 248 3322 and Slobodanka Curic (Regional Disaster Management Coordinator), email: slobodanka.curic@ifrc.org, phone: + 387 65665747

In the Europe Zone office, Budapest: Leon Prop, (Deputy Head of Zone), email: leon.prop@ifrc.org, phone + 36 12483300, Fax + 36 1248 3311

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) in Disaster Relief and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Sphere) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable.

For longer-term programmes in this or other countries or regions, please refer to the Federation's Annual Appeal. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for national society profiles, please also access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org