2024-04-30 15:45:00
San José, Costa Rica. Extreme events related to climate change represent an increasing threat to thousands of people in Spanish-speaking countries in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Every year, these natural events cause disasters that result not only in significant material losses, but also in painful family separations and disappearances. The trauma generated by not knowing the fate and whereabouts of loved ones is devastating and can last for decades.
In this context, eight National Red Cross Societies in the Americas, together with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that deploy their services Restoring Family Links (RCF) humanitarian organizations in Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic attended the fifteenth annual RCF Regional Meeting, held April 23-25 in San José, Costa Rica.
Its objective is to strengthen its response to prevent the separation and disappearance of people, restore and maintain contact between family members, contribute to clarifying the fate of missing people and provide support to families according to their needs.
The collapse of normal communication channels and basic services during disasters leaves people vulnerable and generates suffering and uncertainty.
“In emergency situations, the Benemérita Costa Rican Red Cross activates and makes available the Restoration of Family Contacts (RCF) service, therefore during this week, we have had the honor of receiving more than eight representatives of National Cross Societies Roja, who have joined us to analyze and evaluate how we can further strengthen and position this valuable humanitarian service that saves lives, prevents and alleviates human suffering”said Dyanne Marenco, national president of the Costa Rican Red Cross.
In the wake of disasters, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement deploys its RFL program to help people maintain or reestablish contact with their loved ones. This includes services such as telephone calls, internet (sometimes through satellite means), recharging of cell phone batteries and charge storage equipment, written Red Cross messages and search efforts, among others.
Between 2013 and 2023, the Red Cross in the subregion has helped more than 7,000 people regain communication with their loved ones in disaster situations, through its free services. In 2013, response teams addressed family contact needs following hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel in Mexico; in 2016, Storm Otto in Costa Rica; in 2017, the earthquake in Mexico City and hurricanes Irma and María in the Dominican Republic; in 2018, the eruption of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala; in 2020, tropical storms Amanda and Cristobal in El Salvador, hurricanes Eta and Iota in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama; in 2022, Hurricane Julia in Nicaragua and Hurricane Fiona in the Dominican Republic; and in 2023, Hurricane Otis in Mexico, Hurricane Frankin in the Dominican Republic and floods in Mayabeque, Artemisa, Havana and Matanzas, Cuba, among other events.
Marianne Pecassou, regional advisor of the ICRC Protection of Family Ties (PVF) program for the Americas, highlighted the importance of bringing together Red Cross RFL program technicians from each country in order to exchange experiences to improve their preparation and response to disaster situations, in which family separations and disappearances of people occur.
“Uncertainty about the whereabouts of a loved one is possibly one of the most heartbreaking pains derived from armed conflict, situations of violence, migration or disasters. As part of its humanitarian work, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement “has an extensive Network of Family Links worldwide, which strives to alleviate the suffering of people searching for their loved ones.”assured Pecassou.
“Don’t cry mom, I’m fine”, were words that Don José said to his mother after days of being incommunicado at the Regional Social Reintegration Center in Acapulco due to the passage of Hurricane Otis, in Guerrero, Mexico. Don José’s testimony is an example of how people can regain peace of mind by communicating with their families through RFL services facilitated by local Red Crosses, in coordination with the ICRC.
This year, the Family Links Network of the North, Central America and Spanish-speaking Caribbean subregion (AmerCAN) reinforces its commitment to strengthening its preparation, coordination and response systems in the event of emergencies and, in particular, disasters in the area of RFL.
The AmerCAN Network is made up of the National Societies of the Costa Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Panamanian and Salvadoran Red Cross, as well as the regional delegations of the ICRC for Mexico and Central America, Venezuela and the IFRC for the Americas. Central.
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