December 22, 2017 By Lemuella Tarawallie
Red Cross volunteer hands over cash payment to a mudslide victim
The Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS), with support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (IFRCRC), through Office of National Security (ONS), Wednesday donated the sum of Le 2, 280,000 to each victim of August 14 mudslide and flood disasters from Matomeh.
The aim, according to the SLRCS, was to complement government’s efforts in alleviating suffering among victims of the twin disasters.
Making the cash donation at the Matomeh community, Regent Camp, SLRCS’s Disaster Management Coordinator, Henry Nyukeh said the move was part of the early recovery package.
He added that their intervention was in three phases – emergency response, early recovery donation of cash and none food items, and engagement in building a resilient community and risk reduction activities.
Mr. Nyukeh said the donation was to help victims resettle in their new communities, adding that they were targeting one thousand households.
He disclosed that they had initially intended to target seven hundred and fifty households, but later decided to increase that number to one thousand. He said they were also targeting an additional two hundred and fifty households, noting that the cash transfer of US$300 per household was standardised by the government of Sierra Leone and agencies.
He continued that some one thousand nine hundred and five households were registered as affected, while it was subsequently discovered that there was an error of omission of people who were genuinely affected.
He said another registration was launched by the Ministry of Social Welfare in collaboration with National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), with support from World Food Programme (WFP).
He disclosed that an additional figure of 1,474 households was captured.
Mr Nyukeh added that since that additional batch of people were not initially captured, they lost out on all the support that was being given by other organisations.
He maintained that in addition to that intervention, each household received the standard package of 100 kilograms (two bags) of rice, a gallon of palm oil, a gallon of vegetable oil, salt, sugar, and sanitary kits, including sanitary pads, toilet rolls, soap, etc.
He added that the SLRCS would also provide kitchen utensils in January to beneficiaries.