International Red Cross aids disaster-stricken Southern Russia

The International Committee of the Red Cross has sent urgent aid to the population of flood-stricken Southern Russia, ICRC's Moscow Office announced Wednesday.

Relief supplies were sent yesterday to local committees of the Russian Red Cross (RRC). The ICRC office elaborated that aid has already been provided to 800 households in Mineralnye Vody, 1,250 in Nevinnomyssk and 100 in Georgievsk. Civilians in the disaster area will be issued with plastics for shelters, blankets, potable water cans, food rations composed of canned meet and vegetables, buckwheat cereals, butter, tea, sugar, and personal hygiene packages complete with soap, washing powder, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.

The ICRC and local RRC committees are continuing to reassess the situation in order to identify further needs and plan things to do in other areas. "Communications are being maintained with representatives of the Emergency Situations Ministry and the Civil Defense Department based in Mineralnye Vody and with other local authorities in order to coordinate actions undertaken in the region," Red Cross officials said.

The ICRC estimates upwards of 280,000 have been affected by floods in Southern Russia. The Stavropol Region, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, the Krasnodar Territory, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and the city of Grozny appear to have been hit the hardest. A great number of residential buildings were fully or partially destroyed and the region's infrastructure was severely damaged.