In order to address the needs of those affected by the outbreaks of violence, the ICRC has increased the number of expatriates and local staff in Dili. Currently there are 10 expatriates and 6 local staff. The ICRC is conducting all its relief activities in close cooperation with the CVTL and their staff.

Movement Co-ordination

In accordance with its mandate, the ICRC is co-ordinating the activities of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in Timor Leste.

Initial response by the Timor Leste Red Cross/Federation

The Timor Leste Red Cross Society and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent distributed food and non-food aid on at the beginning of the crisis to several thousand people who fled from their homes. CVTL staff collected dead bodies and transported the injured to hospital.

The ICRC is focussing its activities on:

• Water and sanitation
• Distribution of non-food items such as tarpaulins, mosquito nets, jerry cans, hygiene kits, blankets and sleeping mats.
• Assisting families separated because of the violence to be reunited
• Visiting places of detention where people arrested in connection to the violence are being held. The detainees are offered the opportunity of getting in touch with their family via Red Cross messages

Assistance

Baucau district

In the Baucau district, the ICRC and the CVTL have been distributing essential non-food items such as blankets, sleeping mats, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, baby kits, jerry cans and cooking sets.

• As of June 26, the ICRC and the CVTL had assisted some 604 families (3,500 people) in the Baucau district.
• Some 67 families staying in three villages outside of Baucau have been provided with essential non-food items.
• The ICRC/CVTL is assisting displaced families in three camps in Baucau, on in a primary school, another in a bus terminal and another in a disused school.

• Non-food assistance has been distributed to 80 displaced families (470 people) living south of Dili in the Ainaro, Aileu and Ermera districts.
• In Suco Liurel in the Aileu district, the ICRC and CVTL plan to improve sanitation facilities for 18 families living in a former prison. Currently one latrine is being shared by more than 100 people.
• Essential non-food items are to be distributed to more than 400 people staying in the Ermera district.

Dili - Water

• ICRC with Timor Leste Red Cross personnel has taken charge of the Comoro pumping station - the only facility that delivers clean water for trucking.
• Some 200,000 litres of water per day is trucked to camps for the displaced.

• 45,000 litres of water is being trucked daily to the three camps is Baucau and six other sites in the area.
• A 5,000 litre water tank was installed at a newly identified camp at a disused school
• A 5,000 litre water bladder and a tap stand has been installed in a village to help displaced families staying with relatives

• 2 new latrines were installed and 2 others renovated at the disused school.

• A water and sanitation delegate has made a preliminary visit to Los Palos and estimates that up to 8,700 displaced people will need assistance.

Restoring family links (RFL)

• The ICRC and CVTL are helping families in the capital and districts of Timor Leste to locate the loved ones they lost contact with because of the recent events.
• An ICRC tracing delegate and CVTL tracing officers are visiting the camps to register unaccompanied children and to help them to trace their relatives. Where possible, the ICRC and CVTL will organise for them to be re-united with their families.
• Posters have been distributed to camps, churches, and other sites where displaced families are staying to make them aware of the Red Cross tracing service.

• The ICRC has completed visits to Becora (Dili) and Gleno (Ermera) prisons
• 90 Red Cross messages have been collected from detainees in Becora and 8 from Gleno.