GLIDE no. FL-2007-000200-MEX
Period covered by this Operations Update: From 18 December 2008 to June 2009.
Appeal budget: CHF 1,898,880 (USD 1,778,062 or EUR 1,231,672)
Appeal coverage: 100%
Appeal history:
- Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 200,000 (USD 173,563 or EUR 119,546) was allocated from the Federation's DREF to jumpstart the National Society's response.
- An Emergency Appeal was initially launched on a preliminary basis on 6 November 2007 for CHF 1,208,000 (USD 1,042,278 or EUR 722,056) for 4 months to assist 40,000 beneficiaries.
- The appeal budget was revised on 20 November 2007 to include additional income and allowed for an objective to be included in early recovery.
- The appeal was revised on 4 July 2008, to CHF 1,904,884 (USD 1,814,175 or EUR 1,170,795) in cash, kind or services to support the Mexican Red Cross (MRC) to assist 44,380 beneficiaries for 8 months (January to August). The Revised Emergency Appeal responded to a request from the MRC and the affected communities. This includes support for longer-term recovery needs such as disaster preparedness programmes, rehabilitation of livelihoods and strengthening of the National Society.
- The operation update n=B0 4 featured a Revised Emergency Appeal budget of CHF 1,898,880 (USD 1,778,062 or EUR 1,231,672) reflecting the decrease of contributions due to the change in exchange rates, when outstanding donor contributions were paid in October.
- This operations update n=B0 5 features an extension of the appeal timeframe until 30 August 2009, due to delays experienced in the implementation of planned activities when the Mexican Red Cross had to focus its efforts on responding to the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak.
Summary:
Phase I of the emergency operation finished at the end of January 2008, after a three-month humanitarian relief effort to assist the affected families. Assistance provided in this appeal by the Federation and its partners has supported the wider Mexican Red Cross (MRC) relief operation and has met all planned targets. To date, 61,491 people have received assistance: 8,000 families have received standard relief kits, 5,000 families received cleaning kits, 6,491 children received school kits and 3,000 families received agricultural tool kits to assist in their recovery from the emergency.
The MRC with support from the Federation, Partner National Societies (PNS), governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and the general public, has conducted a highly successful operation delivering approximately 16,000 tonnes of humanitarian relief items benefiting an estimated 1.5 million people.
As the emergency phase of the operation met the basic needs of the affected population, this Operations Update focuses on meeting the long term needs of the affected population. The activities will be concentrated in the Macuspana municipality in the state of Tabasco, which was identified by the Mexican Red Cross as one of the most affected. After evaluations, the MRC identified deficiencies and socio-economic vulnerabilities in this region and decided to revise the existing Plan of Action (PoA) for Macuspana. The PoA aims to benefit an additional 876 families with disaster preparedness programmes and restoration of livelihoods in 13 communities in the municipality.
The appeal coverage stands at 100%, thanks to the generous support of PNS and external assistance from a broad range of governmental, non-governmental, private sector and individual actors. Therefore, no additional donations are being sought.
The operation was planned to end during April 2009, however, the rise of the influenza AH1N1 in Mexico, forced the suspension of the MRC activities and concentrated its priorities to respond to this influenza. Little by little the situation turned out to be manageable and the authorities from the Mexican Red Cross have shown their interest on resuming the few pending activities of the project, now that the health authorities deem convenient to travel to the project zones.
As of 29 June 2009 according to official data from the World Health Organization (WHO) 70,893 people have been reported as infected with the influenza AH1N1 globally. In Mexico, there are 8,279 confirmed cases and 116 deaths. Authorities of the Mexican Red Cross, technical personnel, and volunteers in the Tabasco project are ready to complete the last pending activities during the following weeks as the daily activities of the National Society return to normal. As of May 2009, the project has been 98 per cent completed. The only two pending activities are the workshop on the module Protected School from the "Better Be Prepared" series; and the lessons learnt workshop; diagnosis process and results.
The operation was expected to be implemented until April 2009. However, given the situation experienced in the country as a result of the Influenza A(H1N1), an extension was requested to complete planned activities, and the operation will thus end in 30 July 2009. A final report will be made available by 30 October 2009 (three months after the end of the operation).