Appeal history:
- On 25 April 2015, a DREF allocation was released in the sum of 283,305 Swiss francs.
- On 8 May 2015, the on-going Emergency Appeal was published for 2,710,576 Swiss francs.
Summary: In the first six months of 2015, 137,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe by sea. That compares to 75,000 in the same period of 2014, marking an 83 per cent increase over 2014. Out of the total number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, 70,354 people went to Italy. That number can be expected to increase further in the second half of the year, especially during the summer months of July, August and September. The operational scenario is changing as compared with the situation when the Emergency Appeal was launched last May because the migrants started to move about the whole territory of Italy, and different local branches are involved in different activities supporting migrants. In Ventimiglia, a first aid point and a reception centre were opened near the border with France. In Rome and Milan, camps were opened for the transit migrants. In Bolzano, the Italian Red Cross signed an agreement with the local authorities to provide health service to the migrants held up at the railway station when they were trying to cross into Austria.
The local branches of the Italian Red Cross (ItRCS) in Sicily, Apulia, Calabria,
Lombardy, Liguria and Trentino Alto Adige are participating in the assessment of the situation on a regular basis, and are in regular contact with the Italian Red Cross`s migration department at the national headquarters (NHQ), for situation updates and for the coordination of the resources so as to avoid a duplication of efforts.