Relief operations underway in Palu City as extent of humanitarian impact emerges.

Australian Red Cross has launched an appeal to help provide urgently needed aid to people and communities affected by Friday’s devastating double disaster in Sulawesi, a powerful earthquake followed by a tsunami.

As the death tolls continues to rise above 800 and with thousands more feared dead, Red Cross has mobilised to provide life-saving aid in some of the worst affected areas.

Teams are delivering help across the Indonesian island following a second destructive earthquake within a week.

Indonesian Red Cross is responding after a destructive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Lombok, Indonesia on Sunday 5 August.

Because the earthquake damaged communications and other infrastructure, including electricity, roads and bridges, a full picture of people’s needs is still emerging.

The latest information has identified close to 100 people have been killed, and more than 200 injured mainly due to the collapse of buildings.

1 Introduction

1.1 Overview

The Red Cross Red Crescent aims to respond to disasters as rapidly and effectively as possible, by mobilising its resources (people, money and other assets) and using its network in a coordinated manner so that the initial effects are countered and the needs of the affected communities are met.

The Australian Red Cross (ARC) is a key Partner National Society, supporting the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) response to natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific.

Eight of Australia’s major humanitarian organisations have issued a joint plea for urgent funds to help more than a million people who have fled extreme violence in Myanmar.

The new initiative is a reflection of the severity of the situation in Myanmar and Bangladesh—the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.

The mass movement of people to the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh has become increasingly desperate.

This document has been prepared to assist Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners to better understand Bangladesh’s legal preparedness for international assistance, identifying and explaining relevant legal provisions for international assistance providers. It is a non-exhaustive desk-based research yet to go through national verification process, and is not intended to be a definitive analysis of Bangladesh’s disaster risk management system.