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Christina and Chris MacKay stand in the kitchen of their new house in Fort McMurray. It’s nearly finished – the walls are painted, the cupboards are in – they are just awaiting the final touches.
Building a new house was never on the young family’s bucket list.

Meet Erwan Cheneval, a rapid response manager with the Canadian Red Cross. Erwan works to address some of the challenges that happen when mobilizing humanitarian operations, details that are extremely important to the success of these operations. 

In what proved to be a well-timed coincidence, Red Cross volunteer Cheryl Beckett was part of a training exercise last Thursday with the City of Ottawa. Her role was to help set up a mock reception centre. The very next day she would do the same thing but not as part of an exercise this time, as flood waters in Ottawa began to seep into residential areas and many families became unsafe. 

Ongoing heavy rains resulted in flooding in many communities throughout the country, especially in Quebec. The Canadian Red Cross is on the ground to meet urgent needs of families affected by flooding.

Disasters and emergencies, like the spring flooding that’s currently impacting Canadians across the country, put a lot of stress on people who are affected.  It’s important to remember that living through a disaster or emergency is extremely stressful, and because of that it’s totally normal to feel extremely stressed out. 

Persistent, steady rains have put several communities in Québec at risk of flooding. Canadian Red Cross volunteers are providing disaster relief services in a number of areas, including accommodation and food. 

Several provinces including Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia are on heightened alert for flooding as a result of high water levels that are putting several communities at risk.

In the days and months that followed the wild fire, we saw an incredible outpouring of support from across Canada. And throughout the past year we have seen just how resilient the people in the Fort McMurray area are. But, as many are aware, the work is not yet over.

This can make a person wonder...

It’s been a year; why aren’t things back to normal?