Summary: A total of CHF 69,134 was allocated from IFRC DREF on 13 January 2012 to support the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) to conduct rapid assessment and deliver immediate assistance to 5,000 families across nine districts (Ilam, Taplejung, Sankhuwasava, Panchthar, Dhankuta, Khotang, Terhathum, Bhojpur and Solukhumbu) who were made vulnerable by the extreme cold following the onset of winter after their homes had been severely damaged/destroyed by the earthquake in the eastern Nepal in September 2011.
NRCS, through its district chapters in the area, identified some 5,000 families in urgent need of additional blankets to protect them from the cold. The national society distributed additional two blankets to each of these families based on their immediate needs. The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) country office in Nepal made an in-kind contribution of 2,000 blankets and the remaining procurement of 8,000 blankets was covered under this DREF. The DREF was also used to cover the transportation costs and deployment of over 180 trained volunteers for the assessment and distribution.
The efforts were closely coordinated with national and local authorities as well as other organizations working in the affected areas. The UN Cluster System had actively followed the situation across the different sectors, including the Emergency Shelter and Non-Food Item Cluster convened by the IFRC and NRCS. Several meetings were held at national and district level to discuss both the immediate relief and longer term recovery process, in line with the recovery plan developed by the Government of Nepal, coordinated by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works.
The operation was expected to be implemented over three months (until 13 April 2012). Although the blankets were delivered to the affected communities within the original timeframe, the operation was extended by two months (until 13 Jun 2012) to accommodate some unexpected delays in the procurement process. All the planned activities under this DREF operation were accomplished within the revised operation period.
Of the total allocated DREF, CHF 61,583 has been spent. The balance of CHF 636 will be returned to DREF, pending the return to IFRC of the unspent funds from NRCS. This final report is issued with an interim final financial report.
The major donors and partners of this DREF are the Australian government, the American government, the Belgian government, the Austrian Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross and government, Danish Red Cross and government, the European commission humanitarian aid (ECHO), the Irish government, the Italian government, the Japanese Red Cross Society, the Luxembourg government, the Monaco Red Cross and government, the Netherlands Red Cross and government, the Norwegian Red Cross and government, the Spanish government, the Swedish Red Cross and government, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Medtronic and Z Zurich Foundations, and other corporate and private donors.
IFRC, on behalf of NRCS, would like to extend gratitude to all donors and partners for their generous contributions. Details of the contributions to this DREF can be found on www.ifrc.org/dref.