Red Cross praised for Hurricane Dean relief efforts
While most of us are celebrating the fact that the hurricane season is winding down, Belizeans who bore the brunt of Hurricane Dean in August are still trying to rebuild their lives. The Belize Red Cross has been a key partner in that process and as News Five’s Marion Ali reports, today the Society got some much deserved praise.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Since Hurricane Dean struck on the morning of August twenty-first, the local Red Cross Society has been carrying out intense relief efforts in northern Belize. Six weeks after the disaster, today the Red Cross was praised for its work in the affected communities by the Office of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid.
Daniel Urena, Programme Officer, European Commission Humanitarian Aid
“I have seen a lot of operations in the region and this one is very good. It has been very, very good and we have to acknowledge when the good work is done as well as when there are problems and I think it’s important because it recognise the hard work that all these people have been doing, the transparency that they have been working in. … Comparing to that operation of Hurricane Keith, there has been a lot of improvements and it’s much, much better and much smoother than before.”
Those sentiments were echoed by officials of the Norwegian Red Cross.
Kjell Einer Vestli, Country Rep., Norwegian Red Cross
“We see that the Belize Red Cross is a good partner. It’s a partner that is able to implement the programmes that are necessary to implement in Belize and so clearly this is something will benefit the Belize Red Cross and I believe also the nation of Belize in the future.”
To date, the European Commission has provided a million and a half dollars toward the Belize Red Cross relief efforts. According to President of the Belize Red Cross, Karen Diaz, their Norwegian counterparts and the E.C. has also decided to fund a disaster preparedness programme in Belize.
Karen Diaz, President, Belize Red Cross
“We do know now that it is not enough to be prepared to leave. We also have to be prepared to lessen the impact of the disaster, so we are tying to go into the communities and let them realise what their own weaknesses may be, how to protect your water sources, for instance protect your wells, if you’re living near a river prone to flooding that you should try and move your dwelling further away, in the case of an emergency what are the types of illnesses that may affect your community in public, so we’ll be doing a lot of training in public health, HIV/AIDS awareness, sexual behaviour, behaviour in shelters, what is expected from you if you go to a shelter, vector problems with mosquitoes and keep your water covered.”
But carrying out such training will require assistance from community partners.
Karen Diaz
“Some programmes are funded and receive funding from outside sources, but for sustainability we have to start looking within and we want to encourage the Belizean public, local government and local enterprises to see us as a partner of choice in not only disaster, but in first aid and in our HIV/AIDS programmes as well. It all builds towards credibility and looking for new partners as we go along. We don’t want to be dependent on one source of funding.”
The new programme will be carried out in ten rural areas in the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts over a fifteen month period. The initiative is budgeted to cost approximately one point two million dollars. Reporting for News Five, I am Marion Ali.
According to the Red Cross, with the assistance of the public and a number of local and international organisations, they have been able to help nine hundred families in the Corozal and Orange Walk districts recover from Hurricane Dean.
