Post Tagged with: "disaster"

Accessing Remote Nepal

Go behind the scenes in an emergency response with Catholic Relief Services. The organization is using a variety of resourceful and inventive ways to access some of Nepal’s most remote communities affected by the earthquakes that struck earlier this year.

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Nepal: Three Months Later

Three months to the day into the emergency, Caritas, Internationalis, a global confederation of Roman Catholic relief and development service organizations which includes USA’s Catholic Relief Services, reflects on the collective response made in Nepal. Working together, the confederation has helped more than 300,000 people so far recover from the quake. However, with the imminent onset of the heavy monsoon season, urgent needs remain. Over three separate journeys varied in scope, my family and I have spent a great deal of time in Nepal so far this year, and thus I nurture a tremendous love for the country and its people. The experiences we’ve had there, both before, during, and after the quakes, have given us a renewed joy of life and taught us to cherish and capitalize on each moment that we have.

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Cash is King

Catholic Relief Services uses dynamic and creative approaches for its on-the-ground emergency relief efforts. Find out why cash distributions are the best solution for some families in the wake of the destructive Nepal earthquakes.

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Nepal: The Fear Inside

When I landed in Nepal three days after the earthquake, aftershocks were still occurring. They woke me early in the mornings, shook the room, and disoriented me in my tired state. Frightening as they were to me, I can’t imagine what it was like for a child who experienced the full impact of the first quake. Here, Ayush, a young earthquake survivor, recounts his experience of the disaster and how it has affected his family.

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Nepal: A Moment to Grieve

Parts of Nepal are devastated. I say parts because I expected my plane to land in a rubble-piled waste land; it didn’t. There was a runway, an immigration officer, and a functioning baggage carousel. Kathmandu’s ancient temples, however, are in ruins. Many multi-storied buildings have toppled down. But the capital city, still in shock, manages to keep pace at least somewhat. I still have the bandwidth to make this blog post, after all. Upon exiting the Kathmandu valley, things become steadily worse. Driving north-east into Sindhupalchowk District, paradoxically away from the epicenter of the earthquake, homes are flattened and people sit in uncertainty on the side of the highway, while others comb through the wreckage of their former dwellings, searching for food or possessions. I begin to experience a sense that I never have before – an eerie sixth sense that comes from gaping at mountain grandeur and pristine rivers, blanketed by piles of debris and the[…]

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One step ahead of the Cyclone

You may have had the unfortunate experience of having your seaside vacation interrupted by a thunderstorm, or worse, a hurricane. Imagine if such a storm were responsible for wiping out not just your vacation, but your family’s income and food supply for the coming year. This, while unthinkable for us in the developed world, is a menacing possibility each year for families in Madagascar, an island nation of 22 million in the Indian Ocean. With 3,000 miles (4800 km) of coastline, it’s hard for Madagascar to avoid being a stop on the itinerary for cyclones sweeping through the Southern Indian Ocean.  I recently spent time here with CARE documenting some of their disaster risk reduction programs. A cyclone, as a hurricane is called in the Indian and southern Pacific Oceans, can destroy acres of the rice paddies that produce Madagascar’s staple crop.  But what if farmers could harvest their crop[…]

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