Doha: Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) sent a humanitarian envoy to follow up on relief intervention undertaken by its staff to help the population affected by the April earthquake in Nepal.
The visit also involved consultations with Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and capacity-building for local water and sanitation (WATSAN) workers.
QRCS assigned the 12-day mission to Khalid Hamad Al Marri, a volunteer since 2006. After attending basic/advanced disaster response courses and the annual disaster management camp, he became a QRCS-certified WATSAN trainer and member of IFRC’s MENA Regional Disaster Response Team.
Al Marri is a founder member of QRCS’s disaster risk reduction team and represented the society in humanitarian events and missions in Kenya, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Lebanon, and Nepal. On arrival in Kathmandu, Al Marri was received by Dr Mosaab Breij, Head, QRCS mission in Nepal, who took him to the mission’s office and discussed relief activities implemented since April.
Al Marri also met officials of NRCS, IFRC, British Red Cross, and the Norwegian emergency mobile hospital and discussed relief arrangements and a WATSAN course for local staff.
He visited QRCS’s emergency mobile hospital in Trishuli, Nuwakot, to check water samples from the hospital and local community, train hospital staff in how to purify water and arrange for NRCS staff training.
Over two days, 32 Nepalese volunteers received training in contents, operation and maintenance of KIT 5, a WATSAN intervention technology to provide small local communities with disinfected water, sanitation units and hygiene requirements.
They were also introduced to the basics of launching awareness campaigns to promote healthy practices, control water-borne diseases and remove solid waste. Al Marri handed over KIT 5 to NRCS to continue to serve the earthquake-hit towns in need of clean drinking water, hygiene supplies and environmental sanitation.
The Peninsula
