Jakarta (ICRC) – To mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 1949, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Indonesian ministry of law and human rights are hosting a two-day seminar on the “Additional Protocols”.

Red Cross and Red Crescent representatives from Asia and the Middle East will be meeting in Bangkok from 11 to 13 December to discuss how best to help the growing numbers of people who have been separated from their families.

The emergency field hospital of the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) at Lhong Raya stadium in Banda Aceh has closed after operating for four months.

ICRC activities in Aceh province

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has finalized its plans for continued aid to victims of the tsunami and earthquake in Indonesia's Aceh province and Sri Lanka in the remainder of 2005. Though it will continue disaster-related work throughout the recovery process, the ICRC's basic role in the two countries is to carry out humanitarian work necessitated by conflict.

ICRC activities in Aceh province

ICRC activities to help tsunami victims

ICRC activities to help tsunami victims

ICRC activities to help tsunami victims

Geneva (ICRC) – The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, has arrived in Jakarta for talks with the Indonesian authorities.

ICRC activities to help tsunami victim

ICRC's activities on behalf of the tsunami victims

A 100-bed ICRC field hospital opened in Banda Aceh earlier this week.

When the tsunami hit their home on 26 December, Maimun was holding on to his father's hand. In the raging water he had to let go and after being rescued he was placed with a caretaker.

The ICRC, in cooperation with the Singapore Red Cross Society and with help from the local authorities, has set up a logistics centre in Singapore to support the relief operation in Aceh.

The ICRC was already operating in Aceh and working closely with the Indonesian Red Cross Society (Palang Merah Indonesia, PMI), so it was able to get started quickly on the momentous task of helping Aceh’s earthquake and tsunami victims.

The ICRC's efforts to help victims of this disaster are gathering pace. The ICRC is concentrating its relief efforts on Sri Lanka and the Indonesian province of Aceh, areas where it had a strong presence before the catastrophe. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies coordinates the overall relief effort of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement.

The Indonesian province of Aceh was particularly hard hit by the massive disaster that struck south-east Asia on 26 December. The ICRC has been involved in relief efforts, working through its office in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. The organization will shortly begin providing items such as tarpaulins, buckets, and clothing for up to 300,000 people in the province, together with a 100-bed field hospital and equipment for supplying clean water.

Following the disaster in Asia, the ICRC is concentrating its relief efforts on Sri Lanka and the Indonesian province of Aceh, areas where it had a strong presence before the catastrophe. The overall relief operations of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement are being coordinated by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Geneva (ICRC) – Following the strongest earthquake in 40 years on 26 December and the resulting massive tsunami across wide reaches of the Indian Ocean, tens of thousands of people in the area are dead, missing or separated from their loved ones.

Following the disaster in Asia, the ICRC is concentrating its relief efforts on Sri Lanka and the Indonesian province of Aceh where it already has a strong presence. The overall relief operations of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement are being coordinated by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Red Cross volunteers bringing aid to conflict victims in Aceh regularly have to operate in a difficult working environment. In view of these special circumstances, the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia – PMI) decided in early June to provide a group of volunteers from the strife-torn province with training in psychological support techniques.

Following the violent confrontations that shook Ambon City in late April, the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia - PMI) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recently provided basic cooking, hygiene and shelter items to almost 1,100 families (4,300 people) who had to flee their homes because they were destroyed by fire or located in unsafe areas.

Geneva/Jakarta (ICRC and PMI) – Over the last three days, 151 people handed over by the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) were transferred by the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia, PMI) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), with the active support of media organizations.

Geneva (ICRC) – Despite the volatility of the situation in Ambon and the surrounding area, the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia – PMI) has been working to bring humanitarian aid to the population.

The ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross Society (Palang Merah Indonesia – PMI) have distributed basic household and hygiene items to families displaced as a result of communal tensions that culminated last September in violent incidents in several towns in South Sulawesi province.

The ICRC delegation in Indonesia, the provincial Ministry of Health and the Indonesian Red Cross recently hosted two seminars on surgical treatment and care for the wounded in Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh province.

An earthquake registering 5.5 on the Richter scale shook troubled Aceh province in northern Sumatra on 2 November. Damage was mainly centred on the remote island of Simeulue off the west coast.

Three weeks after the bomb explosions in Bali, a joint tracing team set up by the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia - PMI) and the ICRC is actively following up 35 of the 99 tracing requests it has received from various sources.

Only minutes after the devastating explosions in Kuta, Bali, more than 80 volunteers of the Indonesian Red Cross Society (Palang Merah Indonesia – PMI) were frantically working to save lives and collect the dead.

Emergency workers from the Indonesian Red Cross Society were on the scene immediately after the attack in Bali's Kuta Beach resort on 12 October, providing first aid, taking the injured to medical facilities and comforting survivors.

The ICRC has launched a course in first aid and evacuation by ambulance in Banda Aceh, in Aceh province. The purpose is to support the Indonesian Red Cross Society in its main activity in the province: taking injured people to hospital.

From 27 to 31 May, the ICRC held a seminar in Banda Aceh on “Advanced first-aid and emergency techniques for wounded patients” for health personnel working in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province.