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Two years ago, Demissew Alemu joined the Ethiopian Red Cross. When flooding caused the overflow of the Awash River this year, Demissew was on the ground, ready to help. His preparedness for that moment came in part through training the Canadian Red Cross had provided to the Ethiopian Red Cross’s disaster management system. 

Community Voices tells the stories of people who are working to build their community’s resiliency in Southeast Asia. Watch how the Myanmar Red Cross is helping build stronger communities, and encouraging women to get involved. 
 

Learn how through the support of a Canadian Red Cross initiative, the Nicaraguan Red Cross' disaster preparedness and response system had been strengthened, allowing them to be ready when Hurricane Nate hit earlier this year. 

Long before Hurricane Irma hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Red Cross volunteers from these countries were trained and ready to help with a variety of new skills, systems, and equipment, thanks to a Canadian Red Cross project called CERA (Capacity Building for Emergency Response in the Americas).

In early March, we had the great pleasure of hosting Nelly Tangua Tangayani, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Red Cross, and Touré Nènè Traoré, from the Mali Red Cross. They spent a week with our Communications team to discuss our respective practices and strengthen their communications capacities.

​Ethiopia is currently experiencing a number of disasters, including drought and conflict, especially in Eastern and Southern Ethiopia are currently in the grip of a severe drought, the result of failed spring and autumn rains in 2016. Millions are impacted. The Canadian Red Cross is working with the Ethiopia Red Cross to help strengthen their capacity to respond to disasters and emergencies. 

In late November 2016, the Ecuadorian Red Cross, with support from the Magen David Adom (MDA), the Israeli National Red Cross Society, conducted mass-casualty incident (MCI) training in Ecuador. An MCI is a situation – natural or man-made – where emergency crews become overwhelmed by the number of casualties. Many Red Cross National Societies respond to MCIs in their home countries; these Societies then share their knowledge with other Societies to improve their response capabilities.

Last spring the Canadian Red Cross welcomed three communications delegates from other Red Cross societies. Degsew Amanu from Ethiopia Red Cross, Marial Mayom Riak from South Sudan Red Cross, and Carlos Romero from Honduras Red Cross, joined staff and volunteers from across Canada to participate in an Emergency Response Unit (ERU) training and learn valuable skills that they could take home with them.