GLIDE n° TC-2008-000057-MMR
This Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 52,857,809
(USD 50.8 million or EUR 32.7 million) in cash, kind, or services to support
the Myanmar Red Cross Society to assist 100,000 families for 36 months.
The Emergency Appeal will cover the provision of life-saving assistance
and short-term relief for 6 months, as well as the medium and longer-term
recovery needs that will arise over a longer-term period.
A Preliminary Emergency Appeal of CHF 6,290,909 (USD 5.9 million or EUR 3.86 million) was issued on 6 May 2008 to support the Myanmar Red Cross Society to assist 30,000 families for 6 months. The Preliminary Appeal has been revised and adjusted upwards, in consideration of the humanitarian needs assessed, and of the possibility of delivering high quality disaster response and recovery programmes. To date, more than CHF 17 million has been received in cash and kind contributions to the appeal, with more funding indicated.
CHF 200,000 (USD 190,000 or EUR 123,000) was allocated from the International Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Myanmar Red Cross Society to immediately start assessments of the affected areas, and distribute relief items. Un-earmarked funds to replenish DREF are encouraged.
This appeal reflects the International Federation's humanitarian commitment and ability to scale up support to Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) to meet the huge needs as a result of Cyclone Nargis. It also takes account of various operational constraints as well as seeks to build on in-country capacity and consolidate national society ways of working and expertise.
This revised appeal gives a stronger indication of work within priority areas, building on the preliminary emergency appeal launched on 6 May. However, there remains a significant need to be flexible in light of the challenges around this operation. Myanmar has not experienced a calamity of this scale in living memory nor is the country used to such a high level of international interest and offers of support.
Similarly, the national society, despite its many strengths such as volunteer passion and commitment, does not have the experience or capacity to deal with a catastrophe of the magnitude of Nargis. In light of this, partners are requested to maintain their sensitivity to the probable significant constraints during this operation. In view of this situation, it may be a possibility that this operation requires a further revision to reflect the evolving situation in the coming months.
In addition, it is requested that if the operational constraints prove too difficult to overcome in the case of Cyclone Nargis, that partners agree that the resources pledged could be re-negotiated for use in other related programming.
This operation is complex and challenging but there are issues to report that signal cautious optimism. It must be stressed that operational realities on the ground are subject to change. Meanwhile, the challenge is for the International Federation and its members to apply their many years of international disaster response/recovery experience and remain focused on utilizing the most appropriate means to best meet the humanitarian needs. This appeal builds on the following capacities in place:
- 27,000 committed volunteers, supported by 258 staff, the majority of whom are in the national headquarters from MRCS who continue to put aside personal loss and suffering to help family, friends and neighbours survive and recover from Cyclone Nargis,
- An excellent team line-up of International Federation personnel in key positions in Yangon;
- An International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement effort that has thus far been working well given the constraints;
- A relief pipeline is running effectively given the logistical constraints with 180 tonnes of international relief delivered by 16 May;
- MRSC ability to shift to emergency mode and simplify otherwise complicated bureaucratic procedures;
- A national society that is established through a local branch network in the delta, with capacity and volunteers in place (although obviously hit by Nargis) and with some experience of dealing with international involvement in a disaster (i.e. the 2004 tsunami).
However, there are considerable challenges that are affecting the operation, including:
- The logistics challenges are huge with communications limited, all relief items currently coming by air to Yangon airport, sea/road access (presently under assessment) are currently not practical options, and there is still unknown capacity for local procurement;
- Unfortunately still limited impact on the ground, given the scale of the disaster;
- While distributions are picking up there are still many areas that are not being reached and will likely not be reached by other international agencies;
- Information from distribution points and with regards to beneficiary lists is limited;
- Assessments involving international staff are still limited in geographic scope to inner Yangon and delegates are being asked not get out of their vehicles (the one exception being the head of country office's support to an assessment mission by the MRCS president to the delta);
- Given the limited number of visas being issued, there is the likelihood that only a limited number of international staff will be able to play an in-country support role. In relation to this, the MRCS president has issued a letter to supporting partners providing guidance to sister national societies on sending delegates to Myanmar and has expressed a clear request for longer-term, appropriately skilled delegates to be put forward for consideration to support the operation.
Taking account of all the above, one of the principal strategic pillars of this operation is the intention to significantly strengthen MRCS's capacity and to train Myanmar nationals in all aspects of the operation. This will require a valuable investment of time but is so far the most feasible option. Partners are requested to support this creative approach in terms of the deployment of goods and equipment.
This approach is in line with the shift in strategic thinking away from 'traditional approaches' that operational managers consider key to strengthen the probability of operational success. The move entails recruiting and training nationals in Yangon in basic relief management who are then deployed to ten agreed hubs in the delta, each hub serving one to three MRCS branches. Once on site, each team of two would then recruit and train two more (i.e. total of four per hub) to manage the relief operation from the delta. Initial discussions have begun with a local training company and several suitable university graduates have expressed an interest.
Many partner national societies have already made contributions to the appeal: American Red Cross/American government, Australian Red Cross, Austrian Red Cross, Belarusian Red Cross, Belgian Red Cross/Belgian government, British Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, Red Cross Society of China - Hong Kong branch and Macau branch, Danish Red Cross/Danish government, Finnish Red Cross/ Finnish government, French Red Cross, Hellenic Red Cross, Icelandic Red Cross, Irish Red Cross. Japanese Red Cross, Korean Red Cross, Luxembourg Red Cross/Luxemburg government, Netherlands Red Cross, New Zealand Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross/Norwegian government, Portuguese Red Cross, Qatar Red Crescent, Singapore Red Cross, Slovak Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross/Spanish government, Swedish Red Cross/Swedish government, Swiss Red Cross, Taiwan Red Cross Organization, United Arab Emirates Red Crescent and Vietnam Red Cross Society. Contributions have also been received from ECHO, the Andorra, Estonian, Italian and Monaco governments and Total Oil Company. The International Federation, on behalf of Myanmar Red Cross Society, would like to thank all partners for their very quick and generous response to this appeal.
This operation is expected to be implemented over 36 months, and will therefore be completed in May 2011; a Final Report will be made available by July 2011, three months following the end of the operation.
Contact information
Federation regional office in Bangkok: Alan Bradbury, acting head of regional office, phone: +66 2661 8201, fax: +66.2.661.9322; email: alan.bradbury@ifrc.org
Federation zone office in Kuala Lumpur:
- Jagan Chapagain, deputy head of zone office, phone: +6012 2153765, email: jagan.chapagain@ifrc.org
- Amy Gaver, acting head of disaster management unit, phone: +6012 2 20 1174, email: amy.gaver@ifrc.org
- For pledges of funding: Penny Elghady, resource mobilization and PMER coordinator, phone: +603 9207 5775, email: penny.elghady@ifrc.org
- For mobilization of relief items: Jeremy Francis, regional logistics coordinator, phone: +60 12 298 9752, fax: +60 3 2168 8573, email: jeremy.francis@ifrc.org
- For media / communications: John Sparrow, spokesman in Bangkok, phone: +66 847 572 442, email: john.sparrow@ifrc.org
Federation secretariat in Geneva: Christine South, operations coordinator Asia Pacific, phone: +41 22 730 4529; mobile: +41 79 308 9824; email: christine.south@ifrc.org