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Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) yesterday launched a workshop titled “national shelter system in the US.” |
The two-day event is in participation with the American Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), Qatar’s Shelter Committee, and Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI).
The objective is to review the US experience in collective shelter during disasters and explore how to make use of it, in the course of sharing experience and enhancing co-operation with different components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The opening ceremony was attended by Saleh bin Ali al-Mohannadi, QRC secretary-general; Brigadier General Hamad bin Othman al-Dehaimi, secretary-general of the Permanent Emergency Committee and operation director of Qatar’s Civil Defence; and Anne palmer, division disaster state relations director at the
American Red Cross.
Al-Mohannadi welcomed the guests and partners, confirming that QRC plays a principal role in disaster preparedness and has considerable potential and strong relationship with IFRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and 189 National Societies worldwide.
“Following the establishment of the Shelter Committee, which we are honoured to be a member of, it was advisable to utilise experiences in the international arena, remarkably the American Red Cross, which plays an essential role in disaster response locally and internationally, particularly in sheltering.
“This will help the State of Qatar have a top-level shelter system. In tandem with the Permanent Emergency Committee, we have already conducted certain studies and measures, which, together with this workshop, would be an excellent start to get some basic information and avoid past mistakes,” he added.
Palmer thanked QRC for giving the American Red Cross the opportunity to be a part of the workshop. She explained that the US is particularly vulnerable to all sorts of disasters, from hurricanes to floods to
tornadoes to volcanoes.
“We have seen a real need for key shelter centres across the nation to provide disasters response services, so that leaders can have an understanding of our national recourses, the affected communities, their needs, and how governments and NGOs can work together to effectively allocate resources especially in terms of large-scale response,” she
pointed out.
Palmer concluded by hoping that the Qatari programme will make a big success, and that the American Red Cross will share beneficial experience and data from its already existing national system, which was established in 2006 following Hurricane Katrina and saw enhancements in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
