In Raqqa City, the First Responder Teams (FRT) are playing an integral role in response to COVID-19. Part of the Raqqa Civil Council and operationally supported by a local governance project known as FURAT+, the FRT is conducting a sanitation campaign that seeks to proactively prevent the spread of the disease.
The campaign began on the main streets of Raqqa City where members of the FRT cleaned the entrances of shops. The FRT also cleaned the main streets in Al-Hamrat, Al-Karam, and Al-Trifawi districts in collaboration with the municipalities of the eastern countryside.
On top of this, the FRT have launched an extensive public awareness campaign to accompany their sanitation efforts, educating citizens on measures they can take to prevent COVID-19. Recently, the FRT created an emergency number for people to contact the paramedics team with any COVID-19-related emergencies.
To date, the FRT has received and responded to dozens of calls from people asking about the duration of the sanitation campaign and inquiring when their neighborhoods will be included.
ABOUT FRT & FURAT+
FRT is part of the Raqqa Civil Council and is operationally supported by FURAT+, a local governance project that works with authorities east of the Euphrates River to restore essential services and refurbish and maintain infrastructure in communities previously occupied by Daesh. Since February, FURAT+ has:
- Collected 4.5M ft3 of waste to improve security in the al-Busayra, al-Shuhail, and Theban triangle
- Relocated 8.1M ft3 of unofficial landfill along an irrigation canal to an official landfill
- Conducted 10 firefighting missions;
- Led capacity-building and mentorship efforts for more than 50 governance actors in the Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor Civil Council.