Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Indonesia + 7 more

Tsunami three-year progress report

Attachments

The International Federation's Global Agenda (2006-2010)

Over the next five years, the collective focus of the Federation will be on achieving the following goals and priorities:

Our goals

Goal 1: Reduce the number of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

Goal 2: Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

Goal 3: Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.

Goal 4: Promote respect for diversity and human dignity, and reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion.

Our priorities

Improving our local, regional and international capacity to respond to disasters and public health emergencies.

Scaling up our actions with vulnerable communities in health promotion, disease prevention and disaster risk reduction.

Increasing significantly our HIV/AIDS programming and advocacy.

Renewing our advocacy on priority humanitarian issues, especially fighting intolerance, stigma and discrimination, and promoting disaster risk reduction.

A note on reading this report

This is the third Federation-wide tsunami progress report, with the first report published in December 2006 and second in June of 2007.

Whilst this report does offer an opportunity to gauge progress over the past six months, it presents what is best defined as a cumulative picture; therefore there should be some caution in drawing conclusions from comparisons between the reports. The data presented in each progress report is reflective of the number of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies reporting into it. This figure has changed for each report.

The methodology used to gather information also continues to be refined. In addition, the International Federation secretariat's capacity to undertake this unique report - a landmark undertaking for the Red Cross Red Crescent - has increased. These and other factors have resulted in some definitions changing, leading to changes in the figures reported. For explanations of the methodology and definitions used for this report, please refer to Annexes 1 and 2.

Finally, though this report covers recovery efforts in 10 of the countries affected by the tsunami, the narrative is biased towards the worst affected countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and to a lesser extent, Thailand. Specific three-year progress reports for each country are available at www.ifrc.org/tsunami

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (International Federation): refers to the secretariat and all member National Societies collectively. The term Red Cross Red Crescent is used interchangeably with International Federation. Note that both these terms are different from "the Movement", which denotes the whole International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in addition to the International Federation secretariat and member National Societies. Secretariat: refers to the coordinating entity which represents the International Federation's members. In the tsunami recovery operation - like in many other operations - the secretariat also performs an operational role in implementation of programmes. For the purpose of Federationwide reporting, the secretariat must report income, expenditure and the programme results of its operations in the field.

Operational Overview

From an overall perspective, the past six months have seen tsunami recovery continue at an impressive pace. On the construction front, about 80 per cent of the 50,000 houses being built by the Red Cross Red Crescent are now either finished or are under construction, and almost 400 other community structures, such as hospitals, clinics and schools have been built or rehabilitated.

But construction is not the sole indicator of success in this massive undertaking. As we shall see in the following sections, recovery is not a one dimensional process. The tsunami did not just destroy buildings; it devastated communities, economies and families. Meaningful recovery must attempt to address the broad humanitarian needs of those affected, and it must endeavour to ensure that they are left safer against future threats.

More than 3.8 million people have now received assistance from the Red Cross Red Crescent. Hundreds of thousands of people now have improved access to water and sanitation and tens of thousands have received first aid and psychosocial support training. Thousands more have had lost assets replaced or enhanced, or received grants to help them restart businesses or fund new initiatives.

Of course, challenges still emerge. For example, the conflict in Sri Lanka continues to hinder recovery efforts in that country's north and east, with construction projects particularly hard hit.

Finally, as the Red Cross Red Crescent recovery effort enters its fourth year, issues of sustainability and equity are becoming increasingly pertinent. Already, some implementing Red Cross and Red Crescent societies are finishing or winding down their operations in some countries. The challenge now is to make sure that the work they have done continues to have a positive impact on communities in the years ahead.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
P.O. Box 372
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
Telephone: +41 22 730 4222
Telefax: +41 22 733 0395
E-mail: secretariat@ifrc.org
Web site: www.ifrc.org