iranian red crescent

TEHRAN, Feb. 27 (IRCS) _ The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has been implementing remarkably, along with Kermanshah earthquake operational plan and many other areas in terms of disasters across the country.

A meeting was held in attendance of the representatives of International Non-Governmental Organizations based in Iran in IRCS headquarter, peace building in order to engage international NGOs and other organizations with the Kermanshah earthquake Operational Plan which was jointly signed between IRCS and IFRC.

“In the last few days, due to snow, blizzards and rain, the Head of the Relief and Rescue organization announced redistribution and renewing of about 1,000 tents among the affected people. The Red Crescent Society had a continues presence in Kermanshah earthquake since it has occurred and since then, missions and programs are still going on,” stated Mohammad Sh. Mohammadi Araghi, Under Secretary General for international affairs and IHL at the beginning of the meeting.

“Because of the huge destruction of health infrastructures and hospitals in the region, the medical teams were deployed to the area and built BHCU immediately after the earthquake. Almost 190 ultrasonography services were provided and nearly 30 people were transferred to the hospital. After 3-4 days, RDH health facility was established in cooperation with the University of Medical Sciences and Health Services. We moved to rural areas to reach the people who had no access to the hospital to provide Rehabilitation services, physiotherapy and orthopedics for patients. The IRCS medical teams managed to construct a hospital with the cooperation of the medical University, almost 35 days after the quack,” said IRCS Under Secretary General for Health, Treatment and Rehabilitation, Prof. Hasan Safarriyeh.

"Despite of having health activities inside the country, It is worth noting that the Red Crescent currently runs 20 centers in neighboring countries, including in the African continent and Latin America, and manages a team of 15 in Cox’s Bazar,” he added.

“The recent 7.3 magnitude earthquake was one of the largest and most devastating one, which left many casualties. Since the first day, IRCS has been present in the affected areas which can be accounted as a positive point of our country to have a prepared national society for such disasters. The Emergency fund and Shelter are the first things to be done for capacity building,” said country representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Davood Pourkhanali.

“The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was with us and accordingly, since December 7, a one-year operational plan has been launched with an estimated budget about 23.5 Swiss Francs for Kermanshah earthquake affected population. The level of the contribution did not meet the requirements, which made us to seek help from our partners. We also had a meeting with the ambassadors, which resulted in more cooperation for the implementation of the operational plan. Today, also we will have a meeting with NGOs to have more and more cooperation. The revision of the operational plan is a normal subject which we call it Q1 (first quarter) -Q2 (second quarter),” he added.

“In this meeting, our achievements will help us how to improve the operational plan and prepare for the next steps. Disasters are coming,” Poorkhanali mentioned.

At this meeting, a representative of "International Relief" commended the operations of the Red Crescent in Kermanshah Earthquake. While reviewing the history of the organization since 1999 with the occurrence of Rudbar and Manjil earthquakes in Iran, said: “the main mandate of our organization is supporting the refugees in partnership with Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs, (called BAFIA) for greater engagement and intervention through such meetings.”

“The international donations will guarantee the two response plans in two phases, the first phase of which will be completed by the end of this month (end of February), and the second half of the year for livelihoods and other issues,” explained country representative of Intl Relief.

A representative of the "Norwegian Refugee Council" congratulated the Red Crescent Society of Iran, saying: “I visit Kermanshah for three times and experienced the high and harsh damage. Like the Intl Relief, Our organization also has an emergency response plan. We will have a good cooperation on shelter, cash and capacity building as well as implementing emergency projects.”

«Operation Merci»'s representative also introduced the organization and its implementations since 2012 and requested projects, workshops and cooperation with embassies and humanitarian organizations to make necessary long-term plans to provide better assessments of the people' basic needs as well.

«The International Committee of the Red Cross-ICRC», «Japan International Cooperation Agency-JICA», «Danish Refugee Council-DRC», and «Society for Recovery Support- SRS» based in Iran, referred to the areas of cooperation as well as operations in Kermanshah devastating earthquake which called for greater engagement and intervention.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society as a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and with over 90 years of experience is the first organization to respond to the natural and man-made disasters of the country. The 7.3 Kermanshah earthquakes was one of the largest disasters that attracted not only domestic aid but also global attention. The Red Crescent Society will also run a joint operational plan with the (IFRC) to help reducing the people suffering in the affected area of Kermanshah.

During this meeting, the operational plan of Kermanshah earthquake also was reviewed. It is scheduled to release the final revision of operational plan on the first week of March on the basis of assessment, not only for basic information, but also for the latest update of this plan by modifying some focus points.