Tag: disaster

MapSwipe 2.0: How a mobile app can help save lives

By The Missing Maps Team •
Three people smile as they work at laptop computers at a mapathon sponsored by Missing Maps.

A Missing Maps mapathon, © Mile91/Ben Langdon

In 2015, MapSwipe began as a solution to a complex question: how do we better identify where communities and people are, allowing mapping to be more efficient and effective?

Using a simple mobile app, volunteers can swipe through a series of satellite images, tapping in areas where they find features.

MapSwipe can be used anywhere, at any time, which provides an easy access point for individuals to contribute to the Missing Maps project without being restricted to their laptop.

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Cyclone Idai: meet the Red Cross volunteers saving lives and fighting cholera in Mozambique

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In Mozambique, a woman and two young children sit on a blanket on the floor in an evacuation centre after Cyclone Idai

Amelia and her children were rescued from floods by a Red Cross volunteer

Life changed for everyone in Beira, Mozambique, after Cyclone Idai tore through the city. The resulting floods and destruction is worse than anyone can remember.

Latest reports say that the cyclone affected 1.85 million people – the number living in Birmingham and Liverpool combined.

Thousands of people lost their homes and Red Cross volunteers were no exception.

But despite their personal tragedies, volunteers started to help immediately.

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Seven reasons why I feel hope for Zimbabwe

By Alexander Pendry •
A mother in Zimbabwe carrying her child on her back stands with a Red Cross flag in the background

© Victor Lacken/IFRC

Bumping along a dirt road for five hours, I caught my first glimpse of Zimbabwe’s rural villages rising up from the dust.

The capital, Harare, seemed modern and wealthy. The contrast with the poor country villages was extreme.

Yet the mood among the rural people was upbeat.

We arrived just after the harvest and people, poor as they still were, kept offering us freshly picked fruit and vegetables.

But the drought that stalked Zimbabwe for two years could come back at any time.

Crops would die and parents might skip meals to feed their children. Disease and malnutrition could even carry some youngsters away.

Despite all of this, I am optimistic about Zimbabwe’s future.

Here’s why:

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Bangladesh under water: monsoon floods hit South Asia

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Shilpi collects water as she and her cows shelter on a tiny island surrounded by water in what was once a field

© Aminul Sawon

Shilpi’s cows are her life. Like many in Bangladesh, she makes a living from the land.

Each year, Shilpi and others in her village welcome the monsoon rains. They bring the fresh water they need to live on for the next year.

But in recent weeks, the monsoon rains have relentlessly pounded this part of Bangladesh.

Rainwater from the Himalayas is travelling down through Nepal’s lower lying areas, through swollen rivers in north-east India and eventually through the floodplains of Bangladesh.

Vast swaths of land across all three countries are under water.

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From garden to plate in Nepal

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Kanchhi Laamichhane holds a bowl of corn kernals in front of her home

Who doesn’t like the idea of growing fresh and nourishing vegetables, then cooking a delicious dinner?

But this takes on a new meaning in Nepal, which only last year was struck by two enormous earthquakes.

Thousands of people died and many others lost their food, crops, farm equipment and homes.

Since then, the Red Cross has given 3,000 farming families grants to replace the seeds and tools they need.

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Nepal floods: mothers with a mission

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Photograph of Padma, leader of the flood committee in her village in Nepal

Padma

Padma could have kept quiet. Many women in her small community in Nepal do.

Fair enough – they are usually working very hard. Their husbands mostly live abroad to earn extra money so they have sole responsibility for their children, livestock and homes.

Many also work on tea plantations, earning as little as £1.20 a day for their labour – less than the cost of a mother’s day card in the UK.

Padma makes ends meet for herself, her son and daughter by raising two goats, two cows and seven chickens on a small piece of land.

But she spoke up because, on top of all of this, her home and land are threatened by regular flooding. So are most houses in her village, which lies in a flood plain near the Mechi River in Nepal’s Terai region.

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How one challenge led to another: climbing Mt Kilimanjaro for the British Red Cross

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Rachael trekking in Nepal

Rachael trekking in Nepal

This is a guest post by Rachael Fisher Hart, a British Red Cross supporter

On 29 January I’ll be facing one of the biggest challenges of my life: climbing Mt Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the British Red Cross.

Another challenge, and the British Red Cross worker who supported me when I needed it most, inspired me to take on this hard but rewarding adventure. More

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Treating the sick and wounded in South Sudan

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©ICRC/CamilleLepage

©ICRC/CamilleLepage

Dr Frank Ryding never complains anymore. In a career that has spanned the best part of 35 years, he has travelled the world following conflicts and natural disasters with the Red Cross.

He is accustomed to working in trying, dangerous and desperate situations. He knows what it is to be on the edge of life.

The 65-year-old has just returned from four weeks working as an anaesthetist in South Sudan with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and yet another insight into a bloody conflict.

Donate to the South Sudan Crisis Appeal

“Life is so bad out there, you just survive. People are living from one day to the next,” said Frank, who has completed 14 missions with the Red Cross.

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