THE International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), has handed over replenishing stocks valued at US$49000 to the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) to strengthen emergency response capacity in areas that are highly prone to the natural disasters.
By Michael Gwarisa
Zimbabwe has in the past three years experienced recurring natural disasters such as Tropical Cyclones, depressions and flooding. The replenishing stocks will support the National Society to preposition in the Masholanad East, Mashonaland Central, Masvingo and Manicaland provinces that were affected by disasters.
Giving his acceptance remarks on behalf of the ZRCS Secretary General, Mr Elias Hwenga, ZRCS Operations Manager, Mr Tapiwa Chadoka also paid gratitude to the British and Finish Red Cross societies for providing initial support when the country received notification of the tropical depression Anna early this year.
What we have witnessed here is an expression of the relationship and strength of the ZRCS which as a member of the International Worldwide moment of the Red Cross, we are able to get support to fulfil our mandate which is that of delivering our mandate to everyone who needs it at the right time and on time. We thank the IFRC for the support that has come through to replenish all the stocks that we have used in the response to Cyclone Anna,” said Mr Chadoka.
He added that the replenishment is meant to sustain the ZRCS’s capacity to respond to other emergencies which will definitely come.
“Emergencies are now happening at a faster and more frequent rate than what used to happen before and they are even more damaging than what used to happen before. It is also a result of climate change and many other factors that are happening now. Without the support that we receive from our Red Crescent Movement Partners, the IFRC, the ICRC, British Red Cross and many others, the national society may not be able to fulfill its mandate of protecting the citizens of Zimbabwe as an auxiliary of the government.
“That is our role which we will continue to provide given this assistance and also our strategic objective to ensure that we are able to respond quickly and that will help the communities to quickly recover from the effects of emergencies. All that is possible through having to preposition and having to respond quickly before the emergency happens.”
The replenishing consignment consists of 510 Tarpaulin, 171 shelter toolkit, 680 Cotton Blankets, 20 Plastic Sheets, 340 Mosquito Nets, 500 boxes of face masks, 550 hand sanitizers, 510 Menstrual Hygiene Management kits, 268 Jerry Cans, 1700 Water Guard, 260 Bibs, 50 T-Shirts, 310 Rain Coats.
Meanwhile, Mrs Hillary Motsiri who was standing if for IFRC Head of Country Cluster Office covering Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, John Roche said the replenishing stocks will go a long way in serving affected societies.
“The strength of the Red Cross is in the volunteers who are the affected people, the communities etc. In supporting national societies, there are some repositioning stocks that had been given to address the issues that affected the communities during the depression Anna which include the Tarpaulin , Shelter kits and others. When a disaster happens, we receive meteorological information and people are told to move to higher ground or whatever needs to happen.
“However, there also those who lose their blankets and shelters and we ensure that they are provided that. The national Societies in the different provinces will receive some of these shelter kits, Tarpaulin, blankets and all the other things that we need so that in the next disaster we are prepared,” said Mrs Motsiri.
The IFRC is the secretariat of the National Societies in the 192 countries where they are present. They have a volunteer base of 14 to 18 million and in the four provinces that were affected in Zimbabwe during tropical depression Anna, they are dealt with 20,000 volunteers.
