ReliefWeb

TEHRAN, Feb. 10, 2019 (IRCS) _Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) volunteers have so far offered relief services to over 73,000 people during IRCS’ Winter Relief Campaign.

IRCS Winter Relief Campaign began on December 13, 2018 and will run until March 14, 2019.

Since the beginning of the campaign, Red Crescent volunteers have provided relief and rescue services to 73,312 affected people.

Spearheaded by IRCS, the campaign also enjoys the participation of other organizations including Traffic Police, Emergency Medical Services, and Road Maintenance and Transportation.

“85% of people who have been offered relief services were involved in climate incidents,” said Morteza Salimi, Head of the IRCS Relief and Rescue Organization.

At the given period, 1,245 relief bases (559 permanent, 686 mobile) offered 24/7 relief services to the affected people by 1,100 ambulances, 364 rescue vehicles, 52 multi-operational vehicles (Argo) as well as 24 relief helicopters.

IRCS relief workers transported 2,699 injured people to nearby medical centers. Also, 3,976 people received outpatient services and Red Crescent provided emergency sheltering for 8,518 affected people.

Iranian Red Crescent has also distributed 9,650 blankets, 2,751 ground sheets, 7,700 kg plastic nylons, 3,200 canned foods, 4,800 loaves, and kinds of food parcels among the flood and snowstorm affected people.

According to Salimi, objectives of the IRCS Winter Relief Campaign include ensuring calmness of travelers and passengers, providing emergency sheltering and food as well as enhancing the ability of winter passengers to deal with various disasters through safety and multi-media recommendations such as educational clips and safety tips.