Belgian Red Cross-Flanders Deposit €100,000 to Spanish Red Cross for emergency relief
Belgian Red Cross-Flanders has, thanks to the first donations to the recently opened account number, already transferred €100,000 to the Spanish Red Cross to support the victims of the devastating floods. The Spanish Red Cross is providing aid in the hardest-hit areas and is working day and night to support affected families, with a special focus on the elderly and children.
Red Cross volunteers are massively present in the affected regions. Emergency response teams are setting up temporary shelters there and caring for the most vulnerable. They distribute essential goods such as food, water, blankets and hygiene kits and provide first aid and psychosocial support to victims.
"People mainly need basic goods and want to charge their cell phones to contact family," Tania, a Spanish Red Cross volunteer in Valencia, told me.
The spontaneous fundraisers are heartwarming, but financial aid is at this stage a more efficient way to help people in Spain from Belgium. Bringing goods by car or truck from our country to Spain not only takes longer than buying them locally, financial aid can also be much more targeted, tailored to the most acute needs in each specific region or village. After all, the situation on the ground remains complex. Many roads are closed and villages remain difficult to reach. The Spanish Red Cross therefore calls on people not to travel to the disaster area from abroad on their own initiative so as not to hinder the emergency services.
Belgian Red Cross-Flanders warmly thanks everyone who has already donated and stresses that financial support from Belgium is the most efficient way to offer direct and concrete help to the victims. Donations are still welcome on bank account number BE53 0000 0000 5353 with the mention 'Emergency weather Spain'. Every contribution helps to provide help to those who need it most.
Follow updates on the Red Cross in the disaster area here: https://www.rodekruis.be/hulp/noodweer-spanje/