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Representatives
of National Societies of the Americas Region including
members of the DM Network participated in the just concluded
International Disaster Response Law (IDRL) and Shelter
meetings which took place in April in Panama.
The Shelter meeting provided greater
insight into the Red Cross role as lead agency in Shelters
and served, to a large extent, to allay the reservations
voiced by many following approval of this role by the
General Assembly in Seoul in 2005.
Contrary to popular belief the
Red Cross lead role in Shelters does not obligate National
Societies to assume responsibility for the management
of emergency shelters but rather to coordinate other
partners to ensure emergency shelter requirements are
met.
To a large extent, this necessitates
enabling the availability of shelter resources for the
affected population which meet Sphere standards and
are delivered in accordance with the Code of Conduct
in Disaster Relief.
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The
main facilitator of the Shelter meeting, Graham
Saunders, Head of the Shelter Department in
Geneva highlighted the International Federation's
commitment to UNOCHA through the signing of
a Memorandum of Understanding.
This meeting also served
to inform on the shelter resource capacities
which exist in the region and as to what is
required to further strengthen and develop capacities,
tools, methodologies and overall policy guidance.
In order to assist with
this information gathering the DM Network was
charged with collecting such information from
Caribbean National Societies through the distribution
of a short questionnaire which was sent out
in May. |
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