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Gathering water in remote Nepal was already a challege, but after the devestating earthquake in 2015 it only became more difficult. Read how the Red Cross is helping bring water closer to remote communities.

As flood waters begin to recede in communities along the St. John River in New Brunswick, residents are turning their attention to cleaning up and recovering from the disaster. The Canadian Red Cross is offering financial assistance in the form of an electronic funds transfer of $300 per household to assist residents returning home after the evacuation. 

Left Fort McMurray today after an exhausting but incredibly satisfying experience. The emotion of what you do, see and hear each day during a disaster is not easily described. I saw the devastation and felt the void of an evacuated city but I was also moved by hundreds of remarkable people!

Today we have a reason to smile, because we’re celebrating the Red Cross Movement. We celebrate the values of the Red Cross including, supporting the most vulnerable and strengthening communities. We celebrate showing humanity in the midst of inhumanity.

Your phone has the power to send you life-saving alerts. By broadcasting alerts through your cell phone, the system can send geo-targeted alerts and warn you directly of any imminent danger. If your cell phone is compatible you will hear a distinct tone that will be followed by a message.

There is substantial flooding along the St. John River and other waterways in New Brunswick, significantly impacting Fredericton, Saint John and other communities. As flood waters continue to rise, residents are evacuating. The Canadian Red Cross is on the ground, supporting affected individuals and families. 

In May 2016, a devastating wildfire in Alberta forced the evacuation of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes all of the residents in Fort McMurray. More than 80,000 people were forced to seek safety and shelter away from their homes. The Canadian Red Cross was on the ground early to help provide assistance throughout the month-long evacuation and after people returned home. Two years later, the Red Cross remains in the region and is committed to helping the people who were impacted recover at their own pace.

Nearly one year ago, my colleague Martin De Vries described the first rains of 2017 to fall on the desperately drought-affected district of Kindo Koysha in southern Ethiopia. The occasion was joyous but all too short-lived. As Martin concluded then: “Has the drought ended? Not by a long way.” I arrived in Ethiopia three months later to find incredibly resilient people coping with varying degrees of recurrent drought in their regular ways; ways unfathomable to most of us in Canada.