The impact of Storm Éowyn lingered across the country for more than two weeks with many left without water and power for much of that time across Co.
Mayo.
Leveraging the humanitarian organisation’s expertise in community support, the Red Cross and Emergency Coordination Committee's (ECC) role has been to reach the most isolated and vulnerable during the crisis.
Irish Red Cross volunteer Ger McCallig was Chair of the Claremorris branch during the storm response and has shared what life has been like for the last number of weeks and the efforts of the Irish Red Cross and ECC to ensure that vulnerable people were not left behind.
Ger explained: "Identifying the best travel routes for different teams is how I spend my morning since the storm. From a range of locations that we have been told are in blackout, we send a number of Irish Red Cross vehicles with teams. This needs to be done right so we are making best use of time and resources."
The remote nature of many affected areas compounds the challenges, with Irish Red Cross volunteers often having to travel a distance down rural lanes to identified vulnerable individuals often on impassable boreens where the electric cables were down.
Ger said: "It's human nature to want to do welfare checks on as many people as possible. But headcount would have been chasing the wrong matrix. What matters more is to meet the people who aren’t meeting many others.
"Those who live alone, those who go for days without meeting another soul. Focusing on remote rural areas means less people visited on a daily basis."
From the outset, rural isolation and the potential for households to slide into vulnerability and poverty were major concerns to Ger and the team. Volunteers from some of its 73 branches throughout Ireland visited 76 of the community-based humanitarian hubs that were rapidly springing up across the most impacted counties to conduct a rapid assessment and build a national picture of needs and priorities.
Over the following two weeks, 90 Irish Red Cross volunteers undertook 551 'Welfare Checks' across nine counties. They assessed the immediate needs including access to power, water, and medical needs within the household and promptly alerted relevant service providers.
They offered welfare packs of water, milk, newspaper, wet wipes and hand sanitiser but the primary value was simple human connection and conversation.
Ger said: “In one of the areas, I met a lady who was the full-time carer of two adults who needed intense support. She had no water and was on her 10th day without power and had seen no one.
“She was overwhelmed with us offering her five 5 litres of water. I had to twist her arm to get her to take 3 of the 5 litres. She took wet wipes and colouring books and pencils, as the house was on edge with no WiFi."
Ger observed that he could never go wrong with bringing newspapers to people who were isolated.
He said: "Some people feel there are more people more deserving than them and so they are reluctant to take any items. But everyone always takes a newspaper, so it’s a great ice-breaker to get talking to people to see that they are actually doing ok."
Another person Ger encountered after the storm was an elderly man who became vulnerable during the power outages. Ger said: "Even though his power and water was back, his phone was not and he wasn't able to contact his family, which was distressing him."
Frustrations included boredom during the dark evenings without light and TV, having to queue to charge mobile phones, stress in the home as a result of teens being without internet to study, connect with friends and to complete the online CAO application for college courses.
Parents also struggled to work and care for children and other family members without water or electricity or both, on top of concerns about the cost of repairs to homes. Elderly isolation and loneliness was found to be a consistent trend by volunteers.
The Irish Red Cross reached out to charities working with elderly and vulnerable communities nationally and locally and offered welfare-checks to those on the margins to see how they were doing. This approach enabled the Irish Red Cross to focus its resources on reaching those most in need.
The volunteers always asked people when leaving a house: "Is there anyone vulnerable nearby?” The local knowledge signposted to power blackspots and more neighbours to drop in on.
Sixteen days after the storm, Red Cross volunteers came across four households who were still without power. All were said to be "clearly vulnerable". Some had health issues, one was a diabetic, and others had mobility issues.
All were entitled to stay in a hotel and the cost would be refunded via the government humanitarian scheme on presentation of receipts. All four households said they were very cold, having had no heating for more than two weeks, but they could not afford to pay upfront for a hotel.
During this prolonged period of need in unprecedented times, volunteers like Ger worked incredibly hard to respond to the storm and support people.
The National Humanitarian Committee, as part of the National Emergency Co-ordination Committee brought together both state and non-state actors to ensure humanitarian insights from the ground are represented.
The Irish Red Cross holds a unique position as a trusted humanitarian organisation and an auxiliary to the state, to bridge gaps in the best interests of people and stronger communities.
