Increased climatic events spur CARE International in Timor-Leste and Cruz Vermelha de Timor-Leste to join forces to strengthen emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction
Increased climatic events spur CARE International in Timor-Leste and Cruz Vermelha de Timor-Leste to join forces to strengthen emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction
CARE International in Timor-Leste (CITL) is assisting vulnerable households in 10 Aldeias of Manleuana to recover and rebuild after flash floods and landslides affected the area earlier in the year with generous support provided through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP). In addition to the previous emergency distribution of food and other essential items, this includes risk communication on COVID-19 transmission and vaccination and community-based Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities.
Expanding this work, CARE has developed a partnership agreement with Cruz Vermelha de Timor-Leste (CVTL) in order to strengthen local disaster management structures and address health and hygiene risks in preparation for future flooding. This project will run until 30th April, 2022.
Peter Goodfellow, Country Director of CITL said, “CVTL and CARE share a common commitment to enabling the most vulnerable members of society to be prepared for natural disasters and their aftermath, and we are therefore excited at the opportunity to further develop our joint collaboration to strengthen community-based disaster risk management and emergency preparedness for communities in Dili.”
The Secretary General of CVTL, Luis Pedro Pinto stated that “The flooding that occurred between 29 March and 4 April, 2021, impacted 31,337 households across 13 Municipalities according to official figures from the Government on 28 April, 2021. The flooding also resulted of massive increased number COVID-19 cases due to people having to access emergency accommodation and evacuation centers. With flash flooding and climatic events forecast to be of increasing regularly in Timor-Leste due to the impacts of climate change, it’s important that the activities around building community resilience through community-based disaster risk management and emergency preparedness is demonstrating the importance of this partnership work between our two organizations.
The Secretary General of CVTL further added, “Given the context that Timor-Leste is also vulnerable to disasters it requires collaboration and effort to overcome them and therefore we thank CARE International for this partnership opportunity as today we witness the signing of this partnership agreement. We hope that we will be able to work more collaboratively to serve our country and the people of Timor-Leste”
For media inquiries, please contact:
Peter Goodfellow, Country Director of CARE International in Timor-Leste, at peter.goodfellow@careint.org
Notes to Editor:
About CARE International
CARE works around the globe to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. CARE puts women and girls in the center because we know that we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities. CARE has been working in Timor-Leste since 1994. CARE’s work in Timor-Leste focuses on humanitarian response and long-term sustainable development projects in disaster risk reduction, education, community health and nutrition, sexual reproductive and maternal health, women's participation and gender equality.
About CVTL
The Timor-Leste Red Cross, or Cruz Vermelha de Timor-Leste (CVTL) was established in 2000 and legally recognised as an auxiliary to the Timor-Leste Government through a decree law 6/2005 on the 14th September 2005. CVTL has 2,367 members, 153 staff, 2,858 volunteers and a network of 13 branches across all of the 13 municipalities in Timor-Leste with its headquarters located in the capital, Dili. CVTL’s vision is to save and improve the quality of life of vulnerable people and the Mission is to abide by humanitarian values and the spirit of volunteerism to alleviate the suffering of the socially excluded and economically-marginalized, by promoting their health and socio-economic development and enhancing their capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters.
About Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) program
This response has been mobilized through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) mechanism, which is funded by the Australian Government and implemented by a consortium of NGOs, including CARE International in Timor-Leste, Caritas Australia, Oxfam Timor-Leste, PLAN International Timor-Leste and World Vision Timor-Leste, National Disabled People’s Organization Ra’es Hadomi Timor Oan (RHTO), and other local partners.