English Blog Categories 123

While the damage from a Category 4 hurricane like Matthew can be severe no matter where it hits, some countries are more vulnerable than others to the impacts of storms. One of the countries hit hard by Matthew is Haiti – and at this time the extent of the damage is not fully known. 

Glass and debris flew through the air as a tornado tore the roof from a section of the home that Arnold Brown rented with a friend in LaSalle, Ontario. Now, more than a month later, the 60-year-old is still trying to put the pieces of his life back together after it was quite literally torn apart.

Students today are bombarded with images and headlines of humanitarian crises. The Syrian refugee crisis and violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) around the world have made humanitarian education in the classroom more relevant than ever. The Canadian Red Cross offers Exploring Humanitarian Law Educator Trainings to teachers across the country, where participants learn the basic rules of International Humanitarian Law, also known as the law of armed conflict.

Having reliable, practical and up-to-date information can make all the difference for refugees and migrants as they are making their way and transiting through Europe, a journey that is often fraught with peril.
That’s why the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) with the help of IBM recently designed and launched an online tool called Virtual Volunteer.

When Peter Derban visited the Red Cross office in Fort McMurray, he shared a poem written about his experiences during the Alberta fires. Through his poetry, he is sure to give credit where credit is due.
 
‘Fire department in Fort Mac like angels work hard, all day and night.
They are tired, won’t give up. Evil flames they fight, nonstop.”

The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world. Here is an update on Red Cross response to disasters in Syria, Niger and Korea.

The Capacity Strengthening for Emergency Response in Africa (SERA) program is part of a partnership between the Canadian Red Cross and the Government of Canada. A large part of the SERA program involves training local Red Cross Societies in partner countries to help them be better prepared to handle disasters. 

What does it mean when we say we are responding to a silent disaster?

Thanks to social media and 24-hour news it’s pretty easy to stay informed. But despite all this media coverage around the world there are events that happen every day that are not reported, or are underreported. Some of these events are serious, like famine and outbreaks of disease. We call an event like this a silent disaster.