| The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) has increasingly been involved with national level disaster responses since 2001. It also has many years experience dealing with local disasters through its 14 branches.
The Lebanese crisis, in summer 2006, saw the organisation dealing with vast numbers of refugees, managing camps and distributing relief items. This was a new level of challenge and highlighted the need for SARC to develop its disaster management structure. This includes preparing better for disasters and developing the skills of staff and volunteers in areas such as first aid, health in emergencies, water and sanitation, camp management and logistics.
Modernising disaster management
The British Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have been supporting the extensive modernisation of SARC’s disaster management operations since 2004.
A national disaster response plan has been developed to help SARC co-ordinate the response during times of disaster with the Syrian government and other key partners.
It has been used to help identify roles and responsibilities in co-ordinating relief and establish plans of action for different major risk scenarios, such as earthquake, floods and conflict. All systems put in place are tested each year by carrying out simulated exercises.
Training volunteers
Volunteers are the strength of any Red Cross/Red Crescent National Society and SARC can call on over 3,000 volunteers throughout the country, of which almost one third are women, to help respond when a catastrophe occurs.
The programme works closely with communities and increases the ability of staff and volunteers to prepare for and respond to disasters through training in specialist areas, such as assessing damage, first aid and purchasing and distributing emergency relief items.
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