Find out how the Red Cross helps in crises, wherever and whenever we are needed. From earthquakes to conflicts, the Red Cross helps you share the power of kindness.
Winter, Aarsal in Lebanon © Lebanese Red Cross
I have just come back from Lebanon and have seen first-hand how Syrian refugees there are struggling.
More than a million Syrians refugees now live in Lebanon. You may have seen in the news that harsh winter weather has hit them hard.
Vulnerable families are picking up the pieces after a storm drenched the tents in which many Syrians now live. Heavy snow and floodwaters and have damaged hundreds of makeshift camps.
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.
This blog was updated on 22 July 2019
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.
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.
Yet it has already taken more than 1,600 people’s lives in your area.
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.
Gyan Maharajan and her huge cauliflower harvest in Nepal, @British Red Cross/Paul Wu
Getting ready to harvest your autumn fruit and vegetables?
Many of us are now busy in our garden or allotment. Others are taking the easier route and enjoying some fresh produce from the supermarket or grocer.
Either way, we can all take a moment to appreciate Gyan Maharjan’s bumper cauliflower crop.
At 3.5 kilos, one of her huge cauliflowers is around four times bigger than the average UK supermarket cauliflower!
Despite its massive size, 51-year-old Gyan carries her cauliflower in a basket on her back like a backpack.
She is on her way to Bungamati town for a giant vegetable competition. It’s an uncomfortable walk with the heavy weight on her back and Saturday is Nepal’s only weekend day.
Even so, the town’s central square is crowded, and large pumpkins, radishes and spinach take pride of place.
Gyan is amazed by how big her giant cauliflower has grown. Like all the others here, she’s hoping for a prize.
But just being able to grow her own crop again is a gift in itself.
Gyan was one of over a million people whose houses were destroyed in Nepal’s devastating 2015 earthquake.
Like thousands of other small farmers, Gyan lost her livelihood as well, making getting back to normal after the earthquake even harder.
This blog was updated on 2 October 2018.
Indonesia has just faced a terrifying double disaster: a powerful earthquake and then a tsunami.
A series of earthquakes rocked the province of Central Sulawesi, with the strongest being 7.7 magnitude.
Its epicentre was near the city of Dongala, home to around 300,000 people. That’s roughly the same as the number of people who live in Nottingham in the UK.
At least 1,234 people are known to have died and at least 799 people have been hurt. More than 6,000 houses have been destroyed and over 600,000 people across the province could be affected.
Typhoon Mangkhut caused terrible damage in the Philippines, © Philippine Red Cross
Typhoon Mangkhut, which slammed into the Philippines on Saturday, was the world’s strongest storm this year.
Its winds reached a staggering 165 miles per hour. That’s 75 miles per hour stronger than Hurricane Florence, which hit the US on the same day.
At 168 miles across, this massive storm covered an area roughly equal to the distance between London and Stoke-on-Trent.
The human impact has been equally huge.
Reports are still coming in but we already know that at least 64 people sadly lost their lives.
If a huge hurricane blew away your home, what would you miss the most?
For Lorie, it was his treasured viola. “There’s no way I can replace my instrument, my viola,” he said. “It was just precious.”
The keen musician’s home and viola were damaged by Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever seen in the Atlantic.
The huge storm damaged or destroyed almost every house in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Rebuilding is going slowly.
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