For the second time in three months, a deadly tsunami has hit Indonesia.
After dark on 22 December, a tsunami wave ploughed into the Indonesian island of Java.
At least 222 people have been killed. More than 840 are injured and 28 are missing. Sadly, these numbers are expected to rise.
Banten on Java was one of the worst affected areas and its seaside district of Pandeglang was crowded with holiday tourists when the tsunami hit.
Over 550 houses, 350 boats and nine hotels were badly damaged.
“It is important to learn about refugees because people don’t really know about it and they start making assumptions,” said Alesia, a student Park High School in Stanmore.
Alesia and her class recently took part in a lesson using the British Red Cross Refugee Week teaching resource.
When young people hear news reports about refugees, they can sometimes be hard to understand. People may find it hard to empathise with what refugees are going through.
But teaching young people about refugees in the safe environment of school can really open their minds and emotions.
Protective clothing for safe burial, © Baron Nkoy/ICRC
Your country is at war and has been for years. And there are not just two armies fighting, but instead around 30 armed groups.
Anywhere and everywhere can be a battlefield and nobody knows when the next round of violence will break out.
They don’t just attack each other – kidnappings, random shootings and sexual assaults are common.
Elections are a month away. You feel it’s likely that tensions will get worse.
Then people start to die from a disease you’ve never seen or heard of before.
People suddenly arrive from other towns, or even other countries and continents.
They tell you to change how you have always done things so you and your family won’t get ill. But you don’t know if what they are saying is true.
Even the name they use for this mystery disease is new to you: Ebola.
Ken and Terry, © British Red Cross
“I wouldn’t have cared if I lived or died,” said Ken, 92.
Ken was heartbroken when his wife Ann died after over 60 years of marriage.
Sadly, Ann had developed dementia and Ken was caring for her at home. But in January, Ken was in a car accident and had to spend several months in hospital.
Injuries to his neck and ankle meant he couldn’t walk or move around as well as he used to.
Then, while he was in hospital, Ann passed away. Ken returned alone to the home they once shared.
“It was a very, very sad time,” he said. “I couldn’t see the point.”
“But that was when I met this bright chap, Terry.”
Yemen: grandparents with their sleeping granddaughter © ICRC / Abduljabbar Zeyad
“Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It’s not just in the media. It’s reality.”
These words from Indra Adhikari in Yemen struck me to the core.
Through one of modern technology’s miracles, Indra, his two colleagues and I spoke from my home and his office.
Suddenly, via a crackling computer audio link, this crisis was no longer half a world away. It was in my living room.
Right now, after more than three years of conflict, people in Yemen could be at risk of facing the worst famine the world has seen in 100 years, according to the UN.
And an average of 75 people are killed or injured every day.
Nearly every child, woman and man in Yemen is affected.
Photo credit: Teri Pengilley
Raluca Corneanu was waiting with her husband at a London Underground station to meet friends when she spotted a man lying on the floor. Without hesitation, she stepped forward to help until an ambulance arrived.
Amanda Nicholson holding her father’s flying jacket with the bullet hole still in the back
“If it wasn’t for the Red Cross I wouldn’t be here.”
For Amanda Nicholson, the ceremonies to mark 100 years since the end of the First World War on 11 November will be especially poignant.
Her father, James Orr MacAndrew – known as Jo – was one of Britain’s first fighter pilots during World War One.
“My father came from a family of six where all three sons served during the First World War,” Amanda said.
“My father was terribly anxious that the war would end before he had a chance to enlist.”
But Jo did manage to join up in March 1918 after leaving school at the age of 17. This was just five months after his older brother, Colin, was killed in action.
‘Lady of the black horse’, by George Rankin
Just over 100 years ago, Mabel St Clair Stobart was forced to flee her field hospital in Belgrade, Serbia during the First World War.
One of many women who volunteered with the Red Cross, she was head of a hospital unit on the front line.
Events in the war were escalating. Serbia had been invaded – and lives and vital medical equipment were now in danger.
As head of the hospital, Mabel Stobart had to lead the sick and wounded, and the nurses, on an 800-mile escape over snow-capped mountains.
Yet most people have not heard her name – or know anything about her incredible life. More
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