Kazakhstan acts in anticipation of a cold wave

Winter is biting hard in Kazakhstan, with temperatures forecast to drop to -40 degrees Celsius. To help people cope with the extreme conditions, the Red Crescent Society of the Republic of Kazakhstan has activated its Simplified Early Action Protocol (EAP) for Cold Waves.

Through this activation, the Red Crescent Society will receive 67,978 Swiss francs (78,000 US dollars / 71,500 euros). Over the next three months, this will be used to fund anticipatory actions that will directly support 2,000 people in the worst-affected regions, and raise awareness among a further 80,000 about how to cope with the cold weather.  

The actions will be targeted towards people who will be especially vulnerable during the cold period. Actions include: 

• helping homeless people, including children, to reach warm-up shelters and providing them with hot meals  
• distributing non-food items (e.g., winter clothes, winter shoes and warm blankets) to homeless people 
• providing hot meals to older people living alone, single mothers with low incomes, and people with special needs
• providing hot meals to drivers and passengers who have to postpone their further travel due to the cold wave alert, and who are evacuated to warm-up shelters because of road closures
• providing heaters to older people who do not have central heating. 

The Red Crescent Society of the Republic of Kazakhstan will also conduct awareness-raising activities about safety during the cold weather, including via social media. Its staff and volunteers will also provide First Aid at the warm-up shelters to those affected. 

"This simplified early action protocol allows us to support people surviving extreme cold in the most difficult conditions, and to do it quickly," said Lena Kistaubayeva, director of the Emergency Situations Department at the Red Crescent Society of the Republic of Kazakhstan. "Distributing warm clothes from prepositioned stocks, and arranging hot meals for homeless people and older people living alone; these are the key activities now taking place in the North Kazakhstan Region. We keep monitoring weather forecasts, so as to respond in a timely manner and address further needs in this and other target regions of the country, through the Red Crescent branches."