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by Rashomi Silva

Recently the Interational Red cross and Red crescent societies published their tenth 'World Disaster Report'. This article is a small tribute to the world's largest humanitarian Organisation for the tremendous service they render to the humanity.

The International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCRCS) consist of three international societies namely International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent. Found in 1919 the IFRCRCS now operates in 178 countries around the world. The red crescent is used in Islamic countries instead of the red cross. Being true to their motto 'The power of Humanity, this largest humanitarian organisation has made humanity their number one fundamental principle. Impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality are the chief corner stones upon which the Organisation is based on.

The IFRCRCS tirelessly work to eliminate human suffering wherever they occur despite the nationality, creed, race, social status, and the political beliefs of the sufferers. The Organisation is fully committed to foster friendship, lasting peace and harmony among nationalities and ensure the human rights and dignity is protected and respected worldwide.

The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society or SLRCS was first established in 1936 as a British branch of Red cross in Sri Lanka to help the British government to deal with the severe Malaria epidemic that broke in the country during the colonial regime. This voluntary NGO from that point helped the government to deal with many difficult situations that arose from time to time.

Bringing in disaster reliefs to flood, drought and famine victims, conducting social service programs, helping the affected civilians during the war time and supporting the military medical services in appropriate time are a few among numerous services of the National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. The International Committee of the Red Cross or ICRC founded in 1863 was the origin of the Red cross and Red crescent societies. This organisation is introduced solely to help the unfortunate war victims.

They play an impartial and neutral role in war torn countries. The ICRC takes protecting the dignity of the war victims as one of their key responsibilities. The other major roles they play are protecting the human rights, bringing in medical reliefs and providing numerous other assistance to the war victims.

The latest disasters report of the IFRCRCS features mainly on the disaster preparedness. It discusses humanitarian accountability of the aftermath of the disasters, the potential risks and opportunities of disaster preparedness. Tells the worldly trends of disasters and 'how they effect the vulnerable population worldwide.'

According to the report rather than being rich it is more important to be well-informed and to have a strong will, and a firm determination to set good disaster preparedness programs and wise disaster mitigation strategies in the face of a disaster. This was evident clearly from the cases in Latin America, Bangladesh, and Mozambique. Therefore the adage 'the developing countries should not consider their poverty a handicap' is a strong morale booster for countries like ours.

Just as setting goals in our personal lives helps us to achieve most for ourselves, setting targets can be certainly beneficial in worldly issues. The report calls for setting targets in bringing down poverty, hunger, reducing child labour, ensuring universal primary education and so on. Sharing expertise and knowledge is another good way to avoid disasters.

Further this will help strengthen the friendly ties between the countries. The report has criticised the role of the donors for not investing and putting adequate interest in the disaster preparations. Finally it has emphasised the importance of putting maximum local effort when disaster occurs because as it has been proven in all instances 'the international responses is built upon local efforts.'

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