The Russian Red Cross (RRC), the oldest humanitarian organization in Russia, opened the first mobile aid station (MAS) for refugees and displaced persons from Donbass and Ukraine in the region of Belgorod. It will make it possible to promptly help people who are being evacuated to Russia. More MASs are to be opened in the nearest future in other regions of the country.
The RRC mobile aid station (MAS) is a large inflatable tent with an area of 43.2 m2 with enough space for 4 specialists to work simultaneously. The MAS is to operate on a permanent basis.
The opening of the RRC mobile aid station was attended by Tatiana Kireeva, Minister of Youth Affairs of the Belgorod region; Sergey Andreev, Deputy Head of the Belgorod Administration for Social Policy and Education; Victoria Makarchuk, First Vice President of the RRC; Anton Vybornov, Deputy Director of the RRC Emergency Response Department; Tatiana Kolesnik, coordinator of the psychosocial support service of the Emergency Response Department of the RRC, and Nina Ushakova, the chairman of the Belgorod regional branch of the RRC.
“In the RRC mobile aid station people will be able to apply for cash payments from the RRC, to register applications for restoring family links, as well as to receive psychological support. Additionally, in the MAS there will be provided individual and group sessions with children. This will allow refugees to quietly fill out all the necessary papers, to ask all the questions and just have a rest,” said Pavel Savchuk, the President of the Russian Red Cross.
The work of RRC MAS will make it possible to help refugees and displaced persons promptly, once the Russian border is crossed. Thus, they will be able to apply more quickly for cash payments and restoring family links, as well as to consult with specialists. This will allow to accelerate the process of providing assistance to those in need and help in some extent to the specialists working in MASs in the Belgorod region.
The MAS is fully electrified and equipped with everything the people may need, namely mobile and satellite communications, a permanent access to hot and cold drinking water. It is also equipped with an air conditioner and a jet heater to maintain a comfortable internal temperature.
The RRC MAS is to operate in several directions. Firstly, there will be registered refugees and displaced persons, as well as processed applications for cash payments if they fall under the categories entitled to such payments. Secondly, the RRC specialists will accept applications for restoring family links.
“In addition, in the MAS there is a sensory room for psychological relaxation for the newly arrived people, with chairs for children, an anatomical pouffe for adults, cushions, a soft floor with carpeting and lighting, and a sensory corner with two columns. There will be both individual and group sessions with children. It is our first experience in organizing environment for psycho-emotional relaxation in MASs. The sensory room will allow to provide qualified support to the affected and traumatized people on the ground to be able, at least partially, to recover from their experiences”, commented Victoria Makarchuk, First Vice President of the Russian Red Cross.
The Russian Red Cross acts as one of the main coordinators of humanitarian aid to displaced persons and refugees from Donbass and Ukraine on the territory of the Russian Federation. Since February 18, there have been collected and delivered 1,552 tons of humanitarian aid to the affected people in the face of the Ukrainian crisis via the support of the RRC. More than 100,000 people in 41 regions of the Russian Federation received this aid.
Beyond that, in June 2022 the Russian Red Cross launched direct cash payments to vulnerable categories of refugees and displaced persons from Ukraine and Donbass in the regions of Russia, that received the maximum number of the affected people. These regions are Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod, Rostov, Penza, Kaluga, Ulyanovsk, Tula and Vladimir, as well as Moscow. The beneficiaries are to receive up 5 to 15 thousand Russian rubles. These payments have already been received by 3,196 families. In total it is planned to cover 16,000 families with this type of aid.
Since February, the Russian Red Cross has been operating a single hotline (8 800 700 44 50). It provides refugees and displaced persons from Ukraine and Donbass with psychological support, assistance in restoring family links, consultations on receiving humanitarian assistance, obtaining legal residence status, and access to medical services. Once it was launched, the hotline has received over 32 thousand calls. There were 5,636 applications for restoring family links. 474 cases currently are been processed. 85 people have been found.
