This report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2010.
In brief
Programmes summary:
The IFRC’s East Asia regional office serves to support and build capacities within the national societies of the East Asia region. The region includes China, Mongolia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. The IFRC has programmes that support the national societies in China, Mongolia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
A focus of the East Asia regional office during 2010 was in supporting disaster relief efforts of the region’s national societies. China experienced a string of major disasters in the first half of the year, including a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai in April, which killed 2,698 people, and floods and landslides caused by torrential rain and tropical cyclones which left at least 3,222 people dead and 1,003 missing. The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) quickly responded to the season’s disasters by sending relief items, medical teams and ambulances and provided other assistance as needed. CHF 493,628 (USD 467,849 or EUR 360,410) was allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on 12 August 2010 to support the RCSC in delivering assistance to some 5,000 f amilies (20,000 beneficiaries) in Zhouqu county in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu province after a mudslide wiped out the town on 8 August, killing more than 1,500 people.
The DPRK was also seriously affected in the flooding and typhoon season. Between July and September, many landslides and mudflows were caused by the dramatic levels of deforestation in the mountainous parts of the country. The DPRK Red Cross promptly responded to the emergency, distributing relief supplies and dispatching four mobile water purification units to the affected areas.
Mongolian Red Cross Society (MRCS) prioritized its efforts to meet the needs of the thousands of herders who have suffered from harsh winter conditions. A total of CHF 100,000 was allocated from the IFRC disaster relief emergency funds (DREF) to assist MRCS in delivering relief supplies to 1,500 families. After further assessments, an emergency appeal was launched in March for an additional CHF 1,062,295, relief distribution of food and basic non-food items, health education and psychological support to 1,800 families and livelihood support for 1,600 families, communication, logistic support and capacity building for the national society were covered in the emergency appeal.
The re gional office co ntinues to sup port national so cieties in stren gthening their cap acity to build up the resilience of hazard-prone communities. In China, the delegation supports a community based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) programme in assessment process and planning. In Mongolia, continuous support was given to the MRCS o n climate ch ange pro grammes. Information, education and communication (IEC) materials were developed during the past year.
The regional health programme successfully organized the second annual regional health team meeting in March. A total of 36 p articipants attended the meeting which also included a one day workshop on road safety.
The regional office supported two regional national societies, Mongolia and China in developing proposals on tuberculosis prevention and control for the first time . In addition, the regional health unit continued to provide extensive technical support to the national societies in community-based health and first aid (CBHFA), specifically on a CBHFA master facilitator workshop in Mongolia and a pre-planning workshop on CBHFA i n th e DPRK. CBHFA work in China i well underway through the support of the earthquake operation, and is now expanding to nationwide implications.
As part of the HIV prevention cross-border project, the RCSC and MRCS have organized a joint crossborder train campaign. The regional health delegate and regional communications delegate participated in the train campaign and the health team has been facilitating planning at the regional level for these activities.
The six-month World Expo in Shanghai, China, ended in October. The IFRC pavilion attracted 1,074,889 visitors – averaging about 5,800 per day – which has set a new historical record amongst peers.
Movie star Jet Li was officially committed as the IFRC ’s first goodwill ambassador in September in Beijing. He has represented the IFRC’s work in Asia Pacific at a number of events in 2010.