Red Cross Blogs

Posts tagged ‘conflict’

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So a food crisis stems from a shortage of food, right? Not necessarily. When communities are in food crisis, it is usually because people are unable to grow or buy enough to eat, rather than because of an overall shortage of food.

If a farmer’s crop fails – or their goats get ill and have to be sold at a low price – they will not have money to buy enough food, no matter how well-stocked the market is. Even if people can make a little money, a poor harvest will often cause food prices to soar unaffordably high.

Across the Sahel region of west Africa, regional unrest, higher food prices, drought, pest problems and reduced income from remittances have been key factors in turning the annual hunger season into a crisis. They have all disrupted people’s ability make money, or produce food, and afford food that is available to buy.

Disrupted livelihoods

While most areas of the Sahel are experiencing a combination of these trigger factors, places with violence and unrest are among the most vulnerable. In northern Mali, conflict between the Tuareg liberation movement and government forces has led to over 126,000 people being displaced from their homes and over 93,000 more fleeing into neighbouring Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mauritania and Algeria.

Mary Atkinson, British Red Cross food security advisor, explains: “Regions where there is conflict are often the most food insecure. Violence and displacement disrupt people’s livelihoods, block their access to shops and markets, and force food prices up. It is likely that the conflict in Mali will make the food crisis there considerably worse.”

Continued fighting in Mali – coupled with a coup on 21 March 2012 – has added to people’s urgent needs, and made humanitarian access increasingly difficult.

Access to the most vulnerable

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is one of the only agencies able to help people in areas of conflict in Mali. The British Red Cross has already given £125,000 to support the ICRC’s economic security work in Mali and Niger.

These funds will also be used to provide emergency assistance of essential household items – tarpaulins, blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, clothing, hygiene kits, buckets and kitchen sets – to approximately 9,600 people, as part of a programme that includes substantial food aid.

In Mali and across the Sahel region, more than 13 million people face severe food shortages. Support our work to help people in the region access food; donate to our West Africa Food Crisis Appeal.

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Throughout this year, the TV news has been filled with images of aid boxes arriving in countries that have suffered a major disaster.

But disaster relief doesn’t just come in the form of non-perishable food and bottles of water. It’s also the calm and caring voice of a person who can tell you where to go to get help, and how to sign up for long-term support. It’s someone who will lend you a mobile phone so you can contact family. And it’s people with specialist skills who risk their lives in the most dangerous situations to help survivors.

This year has been a stark reminder of the many forms disaster relief takes, and that anyone – anywhere – can be vulnerable to crises. As part of a global network that has specially trained local volunteers in 186 countries, the British Red Cross has been supporting massive relief operations after four major disasters in 2011.

On February 22, an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, reduced homes and businesses to rubble. At least 160 people lost their lives and 2,500 were injured. Some survivors were left stranded in damaged homes with no electricity, no running water, no sewerage, and no way to contact anyone.

After the earthquake, New Zealand Red Cross volunteers worked in teams going door-to-door looking for anyone who needed help. Among the people they discovered was a 19-year-old woman and her toddler son living in their car in their driveway. Their home was uninhabitable and they didn’t have enough petrol to drive to a petrol station. The volunteers filled their tank and helped them get to a welfare centre where they would be safe.

When a massive earthquake struck Japan a few weeks later, the Japanese Red Cross responded immediately, carrying out search and rescue, and providing first aid for survivors.

Around 14,000 people have been confirmed dead and some 13,000 remain missing.

Since the disaster struck, the Japanese Red Cross has been providing healthcare, food and water to the many thousands of people left homeless or displaced by the earthquake, tsunami and ongoing problems at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

But just as importantly, they’ve been providing psychosocial support for distressed people. In one shelter, for example, an elderly man visited a Red Cross nurse and told her felt unwell. She could tell he was holding back information, so she chatted with him for a while. He finally admitted that he had a colostomy bag, and he was too embarrassed to change it in the shelter. By taking the time to talk, and to make him feel comfortable, the nurse was able to help him find ways to manage his complex health needs.

Someone to help you find family

In the Ivory Coast, violence erupted at the end of 2010 after election results were disputed. More than one million people fled their homes, including over 180,000 who crossed the border to nearby countries. The majority of refugees are now being hosted in villages and camps in Liberia, one of the poorest countries in the world, where food and water supplies are running out and there are not enough shelters or latrines.

In the chaos of fleeing their homes, many displaced people have lost contact with their families. They have no idea whether their husbands, wives, children, parents managed to escape as well. The Liberian Red Cross has volunteers working in camps along the border, registering people who have been separated from their loved ones so they can be reunited.

Emergency healthcare in danger

Emergency responders and local Red Cross or Red Crescent volunteers are usually the first on the scene to help survivors of major disasters. But the conflict in Libya reminds us that they’re just as vulnerable in disasters as the people they’re rushing to help.

The Libyan Red Crescent and its partners are delivering aid to thousands of displaced people in Benghazi, Misrata and around Tripoli, as well as people living in shelters or with relatives in the western mountain areas.

They’re also running a camp in Misrata and distributing food to people who have been displaced. Volunteers are providing first aid and have provided blood bank services to those injured in the conflict. Doctors and nurses from both the Libyan Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are treating people wounded in the fighting.

But those ambulance drivers, first aid volunteers, doctors and nurses are as vulnerable as the casualties they’re helping. Ambulances have been hit, one nurse has died, and several volunteers have been injured.

How you can help

Successful disaster relief operations depend on many things. Volunteers can contact the Red Cross or Red Crescent National Society in their own country to find out how to be prepared for disasters in their communities. For example, the British Red Cross has emergency response and first aid volunteers who support the statutory emergency services in the UK.

Many disaster relief operations also rely on trained professionals who are ready to use their skills anywhere they’re needed.

But none of this work is possible without generous donations from the public. 

Find out more about the disaster relief operations you can support through the British Red Cross.

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Michael Kemsley, British Red Cross logistics delegate, reports back from Tunisia, where he’s been working at a transit camp for people fleeing ongoing conflict in Libya:

The camp has been getting a lot busier, with more children and families coming in. When the conflict started, most the refugees were men. Now there are even babies being born in the camp.

Aïcha has a son, just 20 days old. If the International Organization for Migration (IOM) can find the funds, the family should be out of the transit camp and back to their home country before the baby turns one month old. However, IOM’s funds are running low, and it’s becoming harder to help people get home.

Aïcha also has a four-year-old, Khadija, who keeps crying. It’s because she’s scared, Aïcha explains. Khadija’s hurt her lip as well, but nothing serious, she gets help from the medical team and her mother visits a Red Cross psychosocial volunteer, who gives her advice on how to help Khadija adjust, and stop her having nightmares.

While the numbers of people coming over the border fluctuates between 900 – 2000 in a week, it all depends on the situation in Libya, and that number could go up at any time.

Sometimes, whole extended families have made it over the border together. Khaltouma and Admadaoud are part of a family of 24 people. They have settled into six tents next to each other so that they’re not separated. They lived in Libya for nearly two decades, raising children and building their lives.

Khaltouma’s husband had a steady job as a driver. “We left because of war,” she explains. Last night they managed to make it to the border. “When will we be able to go home?” is her first question. After 20 years, Libya is their home, and the only home their children have known. Right now it’s impossible to say when they will be able to go back.

On my last day in the camp I stuck my head into Omar’s tent but he’d gone. It turns out that he’d left early that morning, among the first 400 people to leave after five days in the camp. I hope he made it safely home and gets to fulfil his dream of returning to a peaceful Libya to finish his studies.

The rest of the day was spent tidying up the loose ends and handing over my work over.  The afternoon was filled with all the emotional goodbyes. It’s amazing the bond you can develop over such a short period of time.  Among the goodbyes is our hygiene promotion team. They all come from the local town. Najet, 25, one of the supervisors, says she has found working in the camp a life changing experience. It has changed her outlook on life and she feels changed the views of everyone in Ben Guardane, the town nearest the camps.

Struggling through the airport with my giant tajine (a parting gift from the hygiene promoters), I came across some of the refugees lucky enough to be able to make their journey home. Hopefully for them, this is the final stage of a traumatic few weeks and epic journeys to return home to build new lives.

But for others affected by the conflict in Libya, they are likely to need help for some time to come.

Visit our website to donate to our Libya & Region Appeal

Images 1 & 3 © Gina Guinta/IFRC

Image 2 © Michael Kemsley/BRC

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Michael Kemsley, British Red Cross logistics delegate, reports back from Tunisia, where he’s been involved in setting up a transit camp for people fleeing ongoing conflict in Libya:

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks setting up a transit camp a few kilometres from the Tunisian-Libyan border, which is basically in the middle of the desert that thousands of people have had to cross.

In the camp, everything had to be done from scratch. That means pitching the tents, laying the water pipes, building shower blocks, sorting out electricity, installing lights – an endless list of jobs!

Most of the people arriving at our camp are migrant workers and most stay for just a few days while waiting for transport back to their home countries.

Seeing the camp open on 6 April, with people registering made all the work that’s gone into it worthwhile. Children were running around exploring every nook and cranny and it’s great they’re now somewhere they can play safely after everything they must have been through over the last few weeks.

However, it wasn’t all laughter as I heard wailing coming from one of the chemical toilets we put in. Some poor little chap had managed to lock himself in one of these strange new toilets. Even in this mixture of nationalities, a crying child is a crying child and I knew he needed help. But trying to work out what language he spoke through a locked door was an interesting challenge. Eventually we managed to get the door open and the little boy ran out and disappeared into a cloud of dust between the tents.

Later I saw him again, he was over his toilet trauma and I got to meet his family – all 21 of them! Parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents all here together and waiting for the International Organization of Migration to arrange for them to get home to Chad. Omar, 26, was actually born in Libya and was studying medicine there. Despite the situation, he hopes to return to Libya. When he does, he says the first thing he’ll do is go to the Libyan Red Crescent and sign up to be a volunteer for them.

Everyone coming over the border has a different story but some are making it out with nothing at all, in some cases with only the clothes on their backs. All their possessions and years of savings are gone. Their only hope now is to return home and start a new life from scratch.

As the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement continues to help those arriving across the border in such traumatic circumstances, the Tunisian Red Crescent is really the backbone to this whole emergency relief operation. Their volunteers have been involved in everything and go about it all with smiles on their faces.

Since the operation began at the start of March, they’ve helped set up this camp as well as working in the UNHCR camp just down the road. They’ve also distributed basic items like blankets and toothbrushes to thousands of people, and are working alongside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Algerian and Qatari Red Crescents serving as many as 23,000 meals a day.

These staff and volunteers have said goodbye to their families to come and live in the middle of a dusty desert (very dusty when the wind starts blowing!) in the most basic conditions for, as they all keep saying to me, the sake of humanity. Some are only staying a few days before they have to go back to their jobs; others have vowed to see out the whole operation. They have been a true inspiration for me and I think I’ve made some friends for life.

Visit our website to donate to our Libya & Region Appeal

Images © Gina Guinta/IFRC

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David Peppiatt, our international director, reports back from Liberia where tens of thousands of refugees have fled from fighting in the Ivory Coast:

Last week I spent five days visiting some of the most remote communities along the Liberian border with the Ivory Coast, where the complexity of the situation, with its ethnic divisions and history of violence, became increasingly evident.

Given the political events in Abidjan, with Gbagbo arrested, I wondered if it would lead to people wanting to return. But most people we spoke to are too frightened and it’s not surprising given what they’ve experienced.

Many refugees fled terrible violence and conflict in recent weeks and months and it’s uncertain when they will feel safe enough to return.

One of the issues in this current crisis is that you can’t just meet the needs of the refugee population without addressing the needs and vulnerabilities of the communities who are hosting them. When it comes to accessing food and water, the needs of Liberians along the Ivory Coast border are great and are being exacerbated by the influx of refugees.

Liberia is rated on the UN Human Development Index as 162 out of 169 countries, meaning it has high levels of poverty and one of the worst rates of life expectancy at birth in the world. The hospitality Liberian communities have shown to refugees is therefore even more impressive.

During the Liberian civil war, many Liberians sought refuge in communities in the Ivory Coast and there’s something remarkable about the reciprocation of that care in time of crisis – families are sharing everything, their food, homes and water with their neighbours from across the border.

Almost everyone we spoke to said their main concern was to feed their family and it’s clear there’s a real scarcity of food.

With the influx of refugees, there are now an additional 110,000 people in an area where getting enough food to eat is already a major challenge. Responding to this need has to be a priority for the Red Cross.

It means we’ll have to prepare for the next 6-12 months to support the refugees and the host communities. It’s not a separate issue, as around 90 per cent of refugees are living in host communities. We visited one village in Nimba county of 1,500 that has exploded to 15,000 creating huge pressures on food and water.

When you see such high levels of need in food, health and shelter it can seem overwhelming.

But we need to focus on the key areas in which we have expertise and can make a difference, such as: first aid; water and sanitation; restoring family links; and distributing tools and seeds to help families address their food needs.

But health needs for example, need to be met by another agency and we need to co-ordinate with other agencies.

By the end of the week, it was clear to me that many Ivorian refugees feel very uncertain what the future holds and that the humanitarian crisis is by no means over.

I know we’ve been asking a lot of our supporters recently with so many disasters and so many appeals for money. But it is clear to me that this is a crisis in which your help can make all the difference. Please visit our website and make a donation today.

Images © Sarah Oughton/BRC

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