ICRC working for disaster relief in Nepal

KATHMANDU - International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working mainly in three aspects for disaster relief in quake-hit Nepal, an official has said.

"Our program is to work together with Red Cross and government of Nepal in emergency first-aid, restoring family links and managing corpses,"Krishna Chandra Chalisey, communication officer with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nepal, told Xinhua on Monday. "We had trained first-aid volunteers from Nepal Red Cross Society (NCRS) and they worked hard during the earthquake in Nepal,"said the officer.

Chalisey added that the process of restoring family links through website is already underway.

"We have launched the website to search and restore family links."

He explained that Red Cross volunteers had been trained on the process and on methods to restore family links.

"Our volunteers are planning to go to all affected areas with all required equipment, and they will have satellite phones."

ICRC report shows that it has already trained more than 200 NCRS volunteers for emergency operations in Nepal.

"The ICRC is working together with the local authorities like police, army, armed police force and NCRS volunteers in the affected areas,"said the officer.

He underlined the importance of managing corposes as it can be the cause of other health hazards, adding that none of the bodies should be cremated before completion of the legal process.

Chalisey said the unidentified bodies should be put into body bags until they are identified.

"We have already provided 700 body bags to local authorities and are ready to provide as per need,"he added.

ICRC corpse management experts are working as per the need of government authorities. "We believe more in preparedness so we have trained many people from various government institutions and NCRS volunteers,"said the ICRC officer, adding that one-week special course has been provided in Disaster Management Training Center of Armed Police Force.

He claimed that ICRC is providing all supporting materials required by local authorities.