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Iran

Iran: Bam earthquake Appeal No. 25/03 Operations Update No. 24

Attachments

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2005 ACHIEVEMENTS AND PLAN OF ACTION FOR 2006

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 over 181 countries.

In Brief

Period covered: 1 January to 31 December 2006

Appeal history:

- Revised Emergency Appeal was launched on 8 January 2004 for CHF 51,913,000 (USD 40,628,980 or EUR 33,581,465) for 6-8 months for 210,000 beneficiaries.

- Revised Plan of Action was presented on 1 September 2004 to reflect on-going programming into 2005. A revised appeal budget totaled to CHF 53,288,000 (USD 41,709,760 or EUR 34,484,690).

- Final Report for Emergency Operation Phase of the Bam Appeal, covering the period from 26 December 2003 to 31 August 2004 issued on 8 December 2004.

- The present operations update highlights the achievements in 2005 and outlines the activities required to finalise the emergency assistance, rehabilitation and reconstruction programme following the Bam Earthquake of 26 December 2003. The new Plan of Action and operational budget cover a period from January to December 2006.

Appeal coverage: 96,9 %

Outstanding needs (revised according to plan): CHF 1,651,928 - Please note that the Federation is not seeking new cash contributions. All planned projects implemented through multilateral support and included in the revised plan of action have received sufficient support. The balance shown above represents the budget provision for the project which was planned to be implemented through the bilateral cooperation, but later cancelled.

Operational Summary:

The emergency relief operation was rounded by the end of March 2004 when the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the Federation) and Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) turned their attention to longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction needs.

The balance of funds received in response to the Emergency Appeal (25/03) was channeled in support of the rehabilitation and reconstruction programme outlined in the revised plan of action of 1 September 2004. All additional funds raised as part of the Appeal were allocated to the relevant reconstruction, disaster preparedness and stock replenishment projects.

Due to certain obstacles, which caused delays in implementation of projects, objectives of some of them, especially for reconstruction and disaster preparedness have not been achieved by the end of 2005 as it was initially envisaged.

This update serves as a notice that the Bam Emergency Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction programme will remain active and that its time frame will be extended to 2006. It will continue to focus mainly on reconstruction and strengthening the IRCS' disaster management (DM) capacity. The update presents an overview of the Plan of Action for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2006. It will also provide highlights for major achievements during 2005.

A Final Report for the Emergency phase of Bam Operation was issued on 8 December 2004. It covered the initial period of the Emergency Appeal, from 26 December 2003 to the end of August 2004.

Background

A major earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale struck the city of Bam, Kerman Province in south-eastern Iran, at 05:28 (local time) on 26 December 2003. Within a few seconds the whole city was gone. According to the authorities' estimates, more than 26,000 people were killed, 30,000 injured and up to 75,600 left homeless. About 85 percent of housing and infrastructure was destroyed. The United Nations (UN) estimated that the number of people affected by the loss of economic activity and damage to property and infrastructure was as high as 200,000.

Two months after a massive search, rescue and emergency response, the IRCS with support from the Federation met the basic emergency humanitarian needs of an estimated 155,000 earthquake victims. Five months after the disaster, through the combined efforts of the Iranian authorities, national and international organizations the population of Bam was provided with reasonable temporary shelter, adequate food and non-food supplies, as well as essential medical services. The situation in Bam began to improve as from the end of April 2004, with more and more people moving into temporary housing provided by the government, either erected on their own property or in the camps.

The distribution of relief items was replaced by cash coupon distribution through May and June 2004. All Emergency Response Units (ERUs), which were deployed through the Federation soon after the earthquake, including the Finnish/Norwegian ERU Field Hospital, were handed over to the IRCS. By early July 2004, the Federation operation in Bam had been scaled down to focus primarily on the rehabilitation and reconstruction programme.

For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:

Seyed Hadi Samaei, Director General of International Affairs Department, Iranian Red Crescent Society, Tehran; email: intdep@rcs.ir; mobile: 98. 912 384 7050; tel: 98.21.88 66 26 18/88 66 26 19; fax: 98.21.88 66 26 52

Chang Hun Choe, Acting Head of Delegation, Tehran; email: ch.choe@ifrc.org, mobile: 98.912 2172507; tel: 98.21.88672424-28; fax: 98.21.88672429

Evgeni Parfenov, Regional Desk Officer, Geneva; email: evgeni.parfenov@ifrc.org; tel: 41.22.730 4325; fax: 41.22.7330395

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for a full description of the national society profile, please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org

The IRCS maintains a website (www.rcs.ir) both in English and Farsi which also provides the latest information, operational updates, reports, interviews and news on the Bam operation to the public.

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