Category: Emergencies
When crisis strikes we respond quickly with life-saving support and help people to rebuild their livelihoods.
Donations needed in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake
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Oxfam teams are now in Kathmandu responding to Nepal’s most powerful earthquake in decades. More than 3.5 million people are estimated to have been affected by the earthquake that hit on Saturday. Thousands of people are sleeping in the open to avoid being crushed in further building collapses and survivors are now vulnerable to hidden health risks. […] Read more »
Kathmandu was ever a disaster-in-waiting
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Shaheen Chughtai (Oxfam’s Deputy Head of Humanitarian Policy and Campaigns) is in Kathmandu. She shares her firsthand experiences The densely populated capital of one of the world’s poorest countries clings to the slopes of the seismically unstable Himalayas. Read more »
One aid worker is courageously telling the world what life is really like in Yemen right now
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Nuha is an aid worker in Yemen and speaking out the conflict now affecting millions of ordinary people in her home country. She shares a firsthand perspective on life in the midst of airstrikes and food shortages: “I am usually optimistic, but I’m not now. Even if the conflict ends soon the humanitarian situation will unfold. Then the shock and the extent of the suffering here in Yemen will become apparent”. Read more »
Journey to Ambrym: delivering aid to Vanuatu
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It was on Monday 23 March when the first Vanuatu ferry loaded its cargo of much-needed aid for some of the northern and most remote islands of Vanuatu. Oxfam had 400 hygiene kits on board ready to give to the worst affected communities on Ambrym Island. Read more »
Meeting the global climate challenge: What would a fair contribution from Australia look like?
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In December, the world will come together to finalise a new global climate agreement. Well before negotiators land in Paris to hammer out the details, countries must announce their provisional targets for the post-2020 period, when the new agreement will take effect. Read more »
Cyclone Pam: the ‘perfect’ storm
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Cyclone Pam is a tragic reminder that least developed countries – who have contributed almost nothing to the problem of climate change – are suffering the devastating consequences of global inaction. The price paid by the people of Vanuatu increased sharply last week. We must stand with them. Read more »
“We have had to use all of our savings to buy food”
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“As our plane descended into Port Vila, I caught glimpses of the islands that make up Vanuatu between perfectly formed clouds, which looked still, as if in a painting — the blue of the ocean a calm turquoise canvas beneath. The islands themselves looked ravaged, trees torn and broken and houses left without roofs or walls. I found myself imagining how different this view would have been just a week before, on the eve of the biggest cyclone to ever hit the Pacific.” Read more »
“My only thought was that ‘this is the end’.”
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Lisa was heavily pregnant when Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu. She and her husband decided to leave their home though and take shelter in a nearby church with some of their neighbours. They didn’t believe their house could withstand the storm. And they were right. Read more »
Sendai: why the fight to reduce disaster risk is more important than ever
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Just days after the President of Vanuatu almost broke down as he spoke of the devastation that Tropical Cyclone Pam had inflicted upon his nation, the mood is bittersweet at the closing of the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Sendai, Japan. Read more »
Vanuatu: residents signal for help
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As aid begins to reach the hard hit Vanuatu islands of Tanna and Erromango, aerial assessments of other islands show residents signalling for help using mirrors, or by marking out large white “H’s” on the ground. Read more »
