ReliefWeb

This report covers the period from 1 January to 30 December 2010.

In brief

Programmes summary:

China experienced a string of major disasters throughout the year, including a 7.1 magnitude deadly earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, in April, which killed 2,698 people. The torrential rains which began in early May and continued throughout the summer months which triggered serious floods and landslides, together with tropical cyclones left at least 3,222 people dead and 1,003 missing in China by the end of November. This included heavy downpours which triggered landslides and mud-rock flows in Zhouqu county, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu province early on 8 August, in which the death toll was 1,471 with 294 missing. The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) quickly responded to the disaster by sending relief items, medical teams and ambulances and provided other assistance as needed.

The six-month World Expo in Shanghai ended in October. The IFRC pavilion attracted 1,074,889 visitors – averaging 5,800 people per day – and has set a new historical record.

Community preparedness and disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) programmes have been implemented in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. By the end of the year, through repeated visits and communication with communities, community work-plans were developed for each of the 30 disaster-prone villages.

A proposal for European Commission NSA/LA fund was accepted. The funding opportunity provided golden opportunities for the RCSC to further investigate capacity building opportunities through implementation of community resilience programming.

RCSC continues to expand and boost its HIV initiatives and blood donor recruitment with support of both domestic and international partners. In 2010, the RCSC made significant steps towards standardizing first aid trainings. Public health campaigns and psychological support programmes at community levels have demonstrated RCSC’s critical role through its branches. Further expanding its scope of programming, the RCSC has launched a multidrug resistant tuberculosis prevention and control programme in Changzhi prefecture, Shanxi province in August.

The three-year intensified capacity building (ICB) programme in Zhumadian, Henan province started its second programme year. The Zhumadian branch started exploration in a disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) project, which is a response to the baseline survey in the first year, which revealed that natural disasters are the second biggest risk to many communities, second to HIV/AIDS.

Two years after the massive earthquake struck Sichuan province, IFRC continues to provide support in livelihoods, health and care including psychosocial support, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, disaster management and overall organizational development. At the end of 2010, the appeal was extended until December 2011, and plans for integration of all programming to longer term nationwide scope got underway.