Summary: 255,940 Swiss francs have been allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Peruvian Red Cross (PRC) in delivering immediate assistance to 800 families (some 4,000 beneficiaries).
After a particularly severe rainy season that brought floods and landslides across the country and caused the Amazon River to surpass historical records from the last 20 years, the Peruvian authorities declared a State of Emergency on 29 March 2012. With some 300,000 affected persons in the Amazonian Loreto Region, the PRC drew up a plan of action to support the emergency response efforts in the area.
With the support of the IFRC’s DREF, the German Red Cross and the Spanish Red Cross, the PRC has reached 2,250 families (11,250 persons) with blankets, hygiene kits, buckets, chlorine tablets for household water treatment, as well as safe drinking water. In order to provide a more integrated approach, these actions were complemented with psychosocial support and hygiene promotion. On the oncoming days, the National Society will also support affected families with the cleaning and rehabilitation of their homes and communities. In addition, the National Society will also reach a further 500 families with relief items in Nauta district with the support of the American Red Cross.
However, due to delays in the clearing of some relief items from customs (mosquito nets and water filters), the PRC requested a one-month extension of the DREF-supported operation to adequately distribute these remaining items. The additional time will also allow the National Society to complete a lessons learned workshops and to continue their assistance with the distribution of safe drinking water in areas where services have not yet being restored. The operation will now conclude on 16 August 2012.
The major donors and partners of DREF include the Australian, American and Belgian governments, the Austrian Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross and government, Danish Red Cross and government, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO), the Irish and the Italian governments, 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. The IFRC, on behalf of the national society, would like to extend thanks to all for their generous contributions. The Belgian Red Cross and government have replenished the DREF for the allocation made to this operation.