Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) will provide an International Tracing Service to assist Filipinos residing in Qatar to regain contact with their family members missing after Typhoon Haiyan.
The service is provided in co-operation with the Philippine Red Cross and the Philippines embassy in Doha. It will facilitate the exchange of family news with relatives overseas through the following means: QRC Messages, Tracing Enquires, and International Disaster Enquires.
These services will assist expats to restore their family links with relatives overseas when normal channels of communication are disrupted. The Tracing Service is provided free of charge and is fully confidential.
Saleh al-Mohannadi, QRC’s secretary general said: “The service embodies QRC’s focus on humanitarian action. We are working together with the International Movement to harness our resources, plan and prepare to meet the needs of separated families in the short, medium or long term.”
QRC has recently launched an appeal for help to raise $2mn in cash to support Haiyan victims. This initial response will provide urgent relief in the fastest time possible and will focus on the provision of food, and non-food items as well as water, shelter and healthcare to 5,000 families – (25,000 people) - in affected areas in the province of Mindanao in northern Philippines.
Initial assessments have revealed an urgent need for food and non-food items, shelter kits, hygiene kits, kitchen sets, jerry cans and tarpaulin sheets.
Basic healthcare and clean water sources are also required for residents in evacuation centres, in addition to temporary shelters, as 3,383 homes are estimated to have been damaged 2,055 of which have been totally destroyed.
QRC will also provide supplies and tools to repair homes for a thousand families whose houses were partially destroyed and temporary shelters for 500 families whose houses were totally destroyed.
The families will also benefit from a month’s supply of food and essential non-food items. Further, QRC will establish mobile clinics in the affected areas and help in providing needed assistance to 5,000 homes.
In the meantime, QRC urges businesses and individuals to offer their financial support to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan, helping them to overcome their suffering. Page 28