Emergency (Page 41)

Recovering from an emergency in any context is never as simple as dusting yourself off and returning to life before the disaster. After Ebola, Liberians are not only dusting off trauma and grief, they are also dealing with new and unknown health complications reported by Ebola survivors, stigma and fear, the impact on local economies, loss of jobs and livelihoods, the interruption to education, and shortages of crops and food production.

Selena and her son, Jade, were visiting Prince Albert when they heard people at home in Air Ronge were evacuating because wildfires and heavy smoke threatened their community.
The news meant they couldn't return home, not even for a toothbrush, Selena recalls.

At around eight in the morning on a dry Thursday morning during monsoon season, a big Red Cross truck full of relief supplies shows up in front of the local school in the community of Kalikasthan.  Volunteers start unloading hygiene kits, blankets, kitchen sets and tarpaulins.

Getting separated from family during the confusion of a disaster is one of the most frightening things that can happen to people. That's why the role performed during the Saskatchewan wildfires by Red Cross volunteer Barb MacLean is so important.

Eight colourfully dressed Tamang women sit in the community health post in Goljung in Rasua district, high in the Himalayas of Nepal. They’re the local community health volunteers and they usually take care of 10 to 15 patients a day in the remote community of 1,000. Today they’ve gathered around to meet the Canadian Red Cross health team.

Forest fires are affecting more than a dozen First Nation communities in Northern Saskatchewan, resulting in evacuations.

The Red Cross is providing emergency assistance such as food, clothing, shelter, referrals, and other necessities on behalf of the Saskatchewan Government for a total of 5,265 people. Our teams are ready to assist others if more communities are impacted.

With cases of Ebola still surfacing in Sierra Leone on a weekly basis, the Sierra Leone Red Cross has installed information kiosks  throughout the country to serve as a point of reference to communities.