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A house fire is difficult for anyone, but for the Bilal family it was especially traumatizing as they had only been in Canada a few months. Mohammad, Afraa, their two children, Naya and Nael, and Mohammad’s brother, Ali, arrived in Canada in February as refugees, after fleeing the war in Syria.
In July, a fire broke out in the family’s home. Fortunately, no one was injured, but most of what little they did have was destroyed.

Since Hurricane Matthew hit the southwest of Haiti, not much remains of the crops that provided livelihoods for people living in the countryside. The hurricane hit during the second main harvest season, so it will take many months for crops to grow back enough to be eaten.

Infections from injuries sustained in the hurricane aren’t the only health concern Haiti is facing. Cholera cases are on the rise, although there is currently no testing being done to confirm cases, making this challenging to quantify.

The Canadian Red Cross is deploying its Emergency Health Clinic and a team of nine aid workers to Haiti jointly with the French Red Cross in collaboration with the Haitian Red Cross and the Haitian Ministry of Health. 

This year’s World Disasters Report, released by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) examines the importance of building resilience in order to meet the growing needs for humanitarian action around the world.  

Fire races through a picturesque valley in southeast B.C. People flee the charging flames, some in just their bathing suits after a swim in the Kettle River. In just a few hours, in August 2015, a raging wildfire forced people from Rock Creek to Westbridge to drop everything, and evacuate.

Elmita Nodeis sits on the ground in the courtyard of Philippe Guerrier school in the town of Les Cayes in Haiti. The school's been turned into an evacuation centre since Hurricane Matthew hit, and she's been sleeping there with eight members of her family ever since.  The 51-year-old has a few buckets in front of her, and she's busy scrubbing clothes. 

The Guay-Bourbonnais family home, in Marieville, Quebec, was completely destroyed by a violent fire. 
“I didn’t want help. I just couldn’t accept that I was a disaster victim,” recalls the mother of the family, Caroline. However, in the midst of the chaos, two Red Cross volunteers approached her and said “This disaster has affected you. It’s okay to let yourself be helped.”