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ISSUE Biannual E News letter Upcoming Events Review of Activities IRCS(NHQ) Yearly Meeting of the Secretary’s of the State and UT Branches IRCS 01 National Headquarters September Coordinators Meeting for the ICRC supported activities 2015 Refresher training for FMR Master Trainers this issue Peer Educators Training (YABC) From the desk of Secretary General NDRT Refresher Training Review- FMR Programme A 4 days refresher training and induction was held at the Bahadurgarh warehouse and Training Centre New Partnerships-TB Project India of the IRCS National Headquarters, from 15th till 19th March, 2015. Few of the participants were experienced NDRT members who were here to refresh their skills and others were new participants. 5 Systems-ICRC supported activities members of Vodafone India (which has supported IRCS relief operations in Uttarakhand and Odisha Successful CRC phase ends in 2013), also attended a part of the workshop for orientation in the Red Cross. The National Disaster Response Team (NDRT) is a cross sector disaster response team which was piloted in December, 2003 From the Desk of to strengthen the Disaster Response system of the Indian Red Cross Society. Refresher trainings for Secretary General the experienced NDRT members and induction of new members are conducted by the IRCS National It gives me great pleasure to Headquarters every year. start this first ever e-newsletter Reviewing our First Line of Help-The FMR Project of the IRCS National Headquarters. As you are all IRCS (NHQ) E news letter Issue 01 Under the FMR module, volunteers aware, IRCS has been at the are trained for providing first aid, helm of the helping mechanism water, sanitation and hygiene 10 Years Post Tsunami– Echoing the Beneficiaries of the country since its incep- promotion, public health and tion. With its well woven psychosocial support, search and structure of the State/Union “I like working with rescue and management of dead Red Cross”, Chakati Territory and District bodies. At present IRCS has close to Santoshi, volunteer for branches, IRCS has been able 5000 trained First Medical the IRCS Community to make a difference to innu- Disaster Mobilization Responders throughout the country. merable lives and reach out to committee, Starting from the Uttarakhand the needy in more ways than Mogadalappadu landslide disaster in June 2013, one. The First Medical Responders has Garamandal , Andhra Cyclone Phailin in 2013, Jammu & This e-newsletter is a small step been unique module of the Indian Pradesh Kashmir floods in 2014 and Hud-Hud from our side to cut carbon Red Cross Society whose pilot programme was launched in cyclone in 2014, the work and footprint and contribute to Uttarakhand in 2011 and support of the FMRs is there for all to “Ever since I started “The water kept rising like a huge climate conservation too. subsequently has been extended to 18 see. They reach out to rescue people, drying my fish in the wall, no one knew where to run and I do hope it will serve to inform most disaster prone states of the to assist with essential relief, provide smoking bins given by there was widespread damage of our partners and the boats and nets, the main country. An FMR is a person who is clean drinking water, help authorities the Red Cross, the price humanitarian world about our at which I am able to sell components of our livelihoods.” the first to provide first aid in clear roads and help in rehabilitation. endeavors here in India, as well them has significantly Komara Paulamma, at the extreme emergencies to the community The success of the FMR Programme left in the photo, also a part of the as motivate our branches to gone up.” before external help arrives. has filled the Indian Red Cross showcase their activities. After Kasallama, fisherwoman, Community Disaster management Society with renewed motivation to Committee remembers the all, the work must reach a con- Baluspetta village in the The FMRs are trained volunteers spread it to all disaster prone parts of horrific landfall of the Tsunami, 10 East Godavari district of clusive end, and communica- from amongst the community and are years ago. the country. Andhra Pradesh. tion serves a window to as- the first to respond to community sessing whether help is actually needs in times of crisis and disasters. reaching the beneficiaries. The Case of the missing TB patients There is a huge burden of missing TB patients in India. In addition, many peo- ple do not finish their treatment the first time after being detected and often de- velop resistance and convert to MDR TB patients. Development of , IFAM with Belgian It is estimated by the WHO that out of Dr. Vanshree Singh (Director Blood Red Cross the 3 million missing cases of TB world- Bank & Health Program- TB IRCS), Belgian Red Cross- wide, India is home to at least one third Dr. K. Raizada, Senior Advisor IFRC Flanders is supporting i.e. 1 million such cases. and Dr. Jagbir Singh, Consultant Health ICRC Supports IRCS on a range of activities the Indian Red Cross in To concentrate on these missing TB cases, Program IFRC. The IRCS is imple- the development of the The Indian Red Cross Society, National menting TB Project-India in the states “Together we are strong”, was the echoing sentiment at the recent state branch coordinators First Aid Manual of the Headquarters, recently received support of Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, UP meet for the ICRC supported programmes. The ICRC supports many activities in 13 IRCS IRCS and St John Am- from the Irish Red Cross Society, for the and Punjab, with the support of Interna- state branches. During the sessions, there is a continued focus on applicability/awareness of bulance India. The two project districts of Punjab, Amrit- tional Federation of Red Cross and Red IHL, Budgeting, Safer Access, Youth and Junior Red Cross programmes and other areas of guidelines for Indian sar and Ludhiana. In March this year, a Crescent Societies (IFRC) since 2009. functionality which need capacity building. Addressing the session, Dr Agarwal, Secretary First Aid (IFAG) have screening camp for new TB patients in The role of this programme is comple- General, IRCS said that the main objective of the meet was to identify major gaps in function- already been developed Punjab was organized which was attended mentary to the efforts of the Govern- ing from the branches. Ms Mary Werntz, Head of , ICRC Regional Delegation based in New in collaboration with by Mr. John Roche, Head of National ment. The IRCS volunteers are in- Delhi, appreciated the frank discussions held on a variety of issues while dwelling on finding many experts in the field Services and International Department, volved in holding screening camps, dis- the right solutions to accelerate success of activities. She also affirmed that the ICRC was hailing from Jai Prakash Irish Red Cross along with the Indian Red semination, ensuring that patients reach here to support the IRCS in all ways possible. Narain Apex Trauma Cen- Cross Society and IFRC team comprising DOTS center for timely treatment, and tre (AIIMS) and, National of, Dr. Veer Bhushan, Joint Secretary, facilitate their food supplements etc. Centre for Disease Control and Centre for Disease Canadian Red Cross completing a successful innings Control (India), along with The Canadian Red Cross supported CBDRR programmes in Tamil Nadu, Andhra experts from the IRCS, St Pradesh and Telangana are coming to an end with great forays into developing the DRR John Ambulance (India) capacities of around 61 coastal villages. Rather than being planned from the outset, and the Belgian Red Cross- the programmes evolved organically. Following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of Flanders. The work on the 2004, IRCS worked to rebuild and improve health services and livelihoods of affected vil- revision of the existing FA lages through two separate projects. Towards the end of the programmes many Manual has started. The assessments were made and simulation exercises held. The key successful aspects of manual aims to educate the programme support have been Health & Watsan, building DM/DRR capacities, vio- laypersons about precau- lence prevention, sustaining livelihoods and overall capacity building. Activities such tionary and immediate as Community Based First Aid, Solid Waste Management, Simulations, Sketching of medical measures needed Community Maps on village walls etc. were part of the overall programme strategy. The in day to day emergencies. programme began after the Tsunami in December, 2004 as a long term recovery pro- It is hoped that the Manual gramme and was implemented in various stages. It has benefitted more than one and a shall be completed by the half lakh people till now. end of this year. .