First Irish Red Cross delegate leaves for Asia Earthquake

Daire will leave on an early flight for London, to collect a visa, and will then travel on to the ICRC HQ in Geneva for a briefing. He will leave Geneva for Jakarta on Saturday morning.

Daire's job as Emergency Co-ordinator will involve the delivery of food, medical supplies and household items to people whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake.

The 29-year-old graduate is already very experienced, having just returned from Kosovo where he distributed aid to people affected by the war there. Previously he worked as an Economic Security Delegate in Liberia, and previously in the Occupied and Autonomous Territories (Palestine), for the Red Cross.

His new mission with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as Emergency Co-ordinator will see him working in Aceh where he will ensure that aid reaches the people in most need.

Indonesia now has the highest confirmed death toll, standing at over 45,000 this morning. However, the UN estimates that five million people urgently need basic shelter, food, clean water and medical supplies. To date 80,000 people are believed to have died in the tsunami which followed the earthquake which measured 9 on the Richter scale on Sunday morning last.

Volunteers from Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in each of the countries affected were among the first to help the wounded, evacuate the mortal remains and set-up tracing services to re-unite family members.

All elements of the International Red Cross/Red Crescent movement have swung into action to support this work.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the umbrella body for all national societies, immediately co-ordinated the provision of aid from societies worldwide. It also launched an immediate appeal and yesterday increased this to Euro 53 million, one of its largest ever.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which normally deals with armed conflict, has used its expertise to provide a dedicated tracing service locally and a tracing website: www.familylinks.icrc.org

Food stocks, water and sanitation provisions and equipment, medical supplies and medicines were also provided.

Five flights carrying emergency response teams and relief items (including tents, medicines, food) from Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have arrived in Sri Lanka and more flights are scheduled.

One plane load of family tents is left Dubai yesterday and was due to arrive in Colombo last night. A second plane carrying a British Red Cross logistics emergency response team will leave Britain for Sri Lanka today, arriving on December 31st.

“The scale of this disaster is growing by the hour. The devastation is unimaginable,” said Markku Niskala, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He said that the existing network of national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in each of the affected countries gave the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement a "comparative advantage" and that their work would continue "long after international attention had waned".

The son of Vincent O'Reilly of Refugee Trust, Daire, has spent most of his life overseas. Over the course of the last five years, Daire has worked for the United Nations in Somalia, South Sudan, Angola, and for Goal in El Salvador. Daire has also studied in Kenya, the USA and is currently working on a Master's Degree from the Institute of International Relations in Havana, Cuba. He has also completed training in Food Distribution with the World Food Programme and Security and HF/VHF Radio Communication with the United Nations.

Irish people were thanked yesterday by the Chairman of the Irish Red Cross, David Andrews, for their generous response to the Irish Red Cross Appeal. The offices of the Irish Red Cross at 16 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, have been open all this week to people who wish to make a donation.

Anyone who wishes to give a donation from their home can do so by credit card either online at www.redcross.ie or by calling CallSave 1850 50 70 70 or by post to the Irish Red Cross at 16 Merrion Square,Dublin 2.

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