Category: Field Report

PRIORITISING EMOTIONAL HEALTHCARE CANACCELERATE RECOVERY Disasters result in bitter memories. Psychological suffering manifests instantly and if left unaddressed, often remains for a long time. If ignored, disasters may leave lasting scars on human minds and simple measures

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THE MONSOON FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES IN KERALA HAVE LEFT AT LEAST 370 PEOPLE DEAD. We now know that over 1 million people – including more than 100,000 children – are staying in 3,274 relief camps across the region. The state government has said many of those who died were

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Everyone has dreams. Some dreams are fabulous, some ambitious. When I met Tom last November, his dreams seemed almost impossible. He was trying to build a health clinic in three days in the middle of nowhere. To be precise, Tom was in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; home to the

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While we can’t stop most hazards from happening, we can stop hazards leading to disasters and we can reduce the deaths and suffering hazards cause. It is a truth that earthquakes don’t kill people; bad buildings do.  Ebola and flu outbreaks, increasing number of

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STORM CLOUDS OVER COX’S BAZAR AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR ARE BAD NEWS FOR THE ROHINGYA Monsoon rains are imminent in this part of Bangladesh, one of the most flood prone parts of the country. This year’s rainy season is going to be even more dangerous than the

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Thousands of Rohingya children are hungry, dehydrated, malnourished, sick and traumatised. They have lost everything. The weather has been unkind, with frequent rains leaving a thick layer of mud everywhere. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, September last week, 2017. I see

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Right now, Hurricane Irma is bearing down on the Caribbean. A category 5 hurricane, Irma is already a life-threatening monster storm, packing winds of over 180 miles an hour. Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and the United States all are in its path. If it makes

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We walk along corridors past men, women and children sleeping on the floor. The storm has blown the roof away from the buildings in the school complex, there are cracks on the walls. One young man steps in to one partly damaged building as people wait anxiously outside. In

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We can’t stop storms or earthquakes. But we can stop disasters turning into crises. In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, here is a list of five key things to remember during the relief and recovery effort in Haiti. Port Au Prince, 9 October 2016 The storm was just

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In wars and disaster zones, a simple explanation is that humanity is a force that advances the idea of life, with dignity. To strengthen the idea of humanity for people caught in conflicts, epidemics and disasters, we could borrow some ideas from the Olympic motto: Citius

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