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Civil and disaster relief

The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) delivers emergency technical aid both on a national and international scale.

18.08.2014
THW - Agency for Technical Relief
THW - Agency for Technical Relief © THW - Agency for Technical Relief

Typhoon “Haiyan” in the Philippines, the flooding in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the camp in Jordan for refugees from Syria – wherever they are needed, the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) gets into action. THW is a German relief agency that is unique the world over. Established in 1950 for civil and disaster relief, it is run by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior. However, only one percent of the people who work there are employed full-time by the organization. 99 percent of THW staff are volunteers – 80,000 men, women and young people.

For a quite some time now, THW has been dispatched to emergencies beyond large-scale international operations. It often also provides technical first aid after accidents, disasters and severe storms. In such cases the volunteers rescue people, repair infrastructures, pump off floodwater, and provide drinking water. In 2013 alone they were in action for 1.9 million hours. In the case of catastrophes abroad it is the Federal Government that determines what services the THW will be performing. Examples include the rapid deployment units “Rescue Abroad” (Seeba) and “Water Abroad” (Seewa).

Aid in the camp for Symbian refugees

One particular operation is the al-Azraq refugee camp in the Jordanian desert. Almost 10,000 Syrians have now taken up temporary residence there – and there is no end in sight to the influx of refugees. Up to 600 new refugees arrive here every day. Since it opened at the end of April 2014 the camp has grown to a size of ten square kilometres. The largest challenge is providing the refugees with drinking water. The German THW has undertaken this task. The water is stored in several tanks boasting a capacity of a total of 600,000 litres; a system of pipes takes the water to the various taps in the camp. At the camp, the THW assists the United Nations (UNHCR) and UNICEF, the children’s fund.

World Humanitarian Day is on 19 August 2014

www.thw.de

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