Children greeting IRD employees, Wau, Sudan
	A boy taking home relief supplies following the tsunami, Indonesia

In response to disasters that affect the lives of millions, IRD implements programs that offer immediate humanitarian assistance, respond to urgent needs, and improve the quality of life for displaced persons, refugees and other vulnerable groups.  

IRD’s emergency activities include the provision of water and sanitation, shelter, food aid, health assistance, and essential commodity distribution during and immediately after disasters. In 2006, IRD provided rapid response activities in the following countries:

Mozambique: Following a drought assessment in Mozambique, a drought response and mitigation project funded by the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) was designed and initiated in January. The program, which continued for the entire year, provided water harvesting technologies and food security support in Massinga district, through the creation of community reservoirs and school-based water collection systems, as well as assistance with the multiplication, distribution and training on drought resistant food crops. 

South Sudan: In February, IRD conducted an intensive humanitarian needs assessment and program planning mission in an isolated but pivotal part of South Sudan. By April, a South Sudan office was established in Malakal, and in June, IRD began implementing a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)-funded emergency assistance program supporting Sudanese displaced persons and refugees returning after decades to resettle in the area.

Indonesia: IRD already had a large number of programs in Indonesia, including tsunami emergency recovery in Banda Aceh. When a massively destructive 6.2 level earthquake occurred on May 27 in Central Java, IRD’s Yogyakarta office began immediate emergency assistance, starting with the provision of food aid, funded first by IRD directly and later through the World Food Programme.

Lebanon: When war erupted in Lebanon in July, IRD mobilized an emergency team from headquarters and other IRD offices that arrived in the country within the month. Based on field assessments of priority needs, in October IRD began a Department for International Development (DfID)-funded emergency recovery and rehabilitation project to restore lost and disrupted household incomes and livelihoods in south Lebanon, the center of the region damaged by the July war.

Iraq: In 2006, IRD continued to provide emergency assistance to displaced persons throughout Iraq, especially in the central and northern regions. Emergency needs are ongoing and ever-changing, as large numbers of people continue to move from place to place to escape regional or sectarian violence in their neighborhoods.

Current Projects

• Indonesia – Emergency Livelihood Recovery and Income Generation (ELRIG) in Banda Aceh
• Indonesia– Emergency Response to the Yogyakarta Earthquake
• Iraq – Facilitating Return of Northern Iraq Refugees and IDPs
• Iraq – Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq (HAI)
• Iraq – Humanitarian Assistance Program in Fallujah
• Lebanon – Lebanon Emergency Relief and Employment Program (LEREP)
• Mozambique – Emergency Response to Drought
• South Sudan – Return and Reintegration of IDP and Refugee Returnees in Rural Communities