Summary: 52,450 Swiss francs were allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on 30 November 2012 to support the Red Cross Society of Panama (RCSP) to carry out assessments and deliver immediate assistance to 750 people for a two-month period and to replenish disaster preparedness stocks.
The heavy rains impacting Panama in late November caused floods, landslides, and affected crops and homes. As a consequence of the precipitation, five people died, 2,570 houses were damaged and 6,500 families were affected.
The successful collection campaign by the National Society requires a revision of the original Red Cross Society of Panama operation plan of action. As of 14 December, the in-kind donations received by the RCSP and DREF support for operational costs will allow the National Society to reach some 2,757 families (13,785 beneficiaries) with food and non-food relief items, providing relief distributions to almost 42 per cent of the total affected families reported in government assessments.
This operation is expected to be implemented over three months, by 28 February 2013; a Final Report will be made available three months after the end of the operation.
The IFRC is grateful to the major donors and partners of DREF: the Australian, American and Belgian governments, the Austrian Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross and government, Danish Red Cross and government, the European Commission- Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO), the Irish and the Italian governments, the Japanese Red Cross Society, the Luxembourg government, the Monaco Red Cross and government, the Netherlands Red Cross and government, the Norwegian Red Cross and government, the Spanish government, the Swedish Red Cross and government, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Medtronic Foundation and Z Zurich Foundation, and other corporate and private donors. On behalf of the Red Cross Society of Panama, the IFRC thanks all its donors for their generous support and particularly ECHO for its specific the contribution to this emergency operation.