World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia

Emergency and Humanitarian Action

                                                

Earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra Province, Republic of Indonesia

                                       

Current Campaigns

Making Hospitals Safe from Disasters

What is a hospital safe from disasters?Health facilities are lifelines in the aftermath of any natural disaster when large numbers of people need urgent medical treatment. The World Health Organization is urging Member States in the South-East Asia Region to ensure all hospitals and health facilities are disaster-resilient.

Click a Brick for safe Hospitals

Click a Brick for safe HospitalsDr Samlee Plianbangchang, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia, has launched an email and web-based campaign to gather public support on the issue of keeping health facilities safe in emergencies. The campaign target is to reach 1 million people by April 2010.

On 30 September 2009, a strong earthquake registering 7.6 Richter scale, depth 71 km under the sea level southwest Pariaman, struck off the coast of Padang in West Sumatra at 17:16 pm local time. The tremor was felt in Jakarta, Pekanbaru, Duri, Riau, Singapore and Malaysia. An initial tsunami watch was raised and was recalled a few hours after. The death toll will be in the thousands as the rescue operations have been called off and now the focus is on recovery and helping survivors.

On 01 October 2009, at about 08:52 am local time, a strong earthquake registering 7.0 Richter scale, 10 kilometer depth under the sea level hit southeast part of Sungai Penuh, Jambi Province. WHO, together with the MOH and other humanitarian partners, is also looking at this event closely with several thousands displaced and buildings damaged as well.

EHA-WHO and Crisis Center MOH, deployed to the site today for Rapid Health Assessment. The Regional Crisis Center of Medan,  North Sumatra, Provincial Health Office and District Health Office in close collaboration with WHO Indonesia, send health teams, relief supplies and other essential services as per standard procedures.

Situation Reports

MAP OF AFFECTED STATESFloods in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka 5  Oct  2009

 

Heavy rains due to depression in the Bay of Bengal and low pressure from the Arabian Sea from September 29 to October 2 have caused flash floods in North Karnataka and the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, affecting nearly two million people and claiming 210 lives.

Situation Reports

Timor-leste Supports WHO’s unique Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF)Timor-leste supports WHO’s unique Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF)

Timor-Leste will support WHO’s South-East Asia Regional health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF) with a contribution of US$ 10 000, the country’s Health Minister Dr. Nelson Martins announced during the 27th Meeting of  Health Ministers, held in Kathmandu, Nepal.  SEARHEF is unique in having a fast and flexible mechanism for disbursements of funds within 24 hours of an official request, following an emergency in the Region.

More Information [PDF 125 KB]

Situation in North of Sri Lanka Situation in North of Sri Lanka

WHO is working closely with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health to ensure healthcare services in the new camps for Internally Displaced people (IDPs). Following the Government of Sri Lanka’s 180-day plan for rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs, the Health Cluster partners are focusing on two issues: continued healthcare services for IDPs who need to remain in the camps, and availability of healthcare services for those who re-settle in the villages.

 

More Information…

World Health Day 2009: Health Facilities in Emergencies

The theme for this year’s World Health Day is “Health Facilities in Emergencies”. The South-East Asia Region has long experienced many disasters and in some of these health facilities were a major casualty. For example, during the 26 December 2004 tsunami, 30 of the 240 health clinics were destroyed in Aceh province, Indonesia and seriously damaged 77 others. In Sri Lanka, 92 health facilities were destroyed including 35 hospitals. In 2001 in Gujurat, India, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroyed 3812 health facilities. These are some examples of disaster situations where health services are affected and at times unavailable when they are most needed.

More information…

 

Hazard profiles and disaster preparedness in SEAR Countries

Bangladesh

 

Indonesia

Sri Lanka

Bhutan

Maldives

 

Thailand

DPR Korea

Myanmar

Timor-Leste

India

Nepal

 

 

EHA Roster of Experts: Call for Applications

*      EHA BlogNew

*      Bangladesh

*      Bhutan

*      India

*      Indonesia

*      Maldives

*      Myanmar

*      Nepal

Press-releases

Guidelines

*      Guidelines for health emergencies

*      Standard Operating Procedures for Emergencies

Systematizing Emergency Health Management

SEARO Benchmarks for Emergency Preparedness and Response

See All  Publications…

*      SEARO

 

Emergency and Humanitarian Action

World Health Organization

Regional Office of South East Asia

Email: eha@searo.who.int

Tel: 91-11-23370804 Ext. 26444

Fax: 91-11-23378438 (Direct)

 

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