Topic: Crisis Response

Last Friday in Beirut I met Hamid, a young Syrian from Damascus. He’s been working as a waiter at a restaurant on the Corniche for almost a year. Hamid’s sisters and parents decided to remain in Damascus when he moved across the border from Syria in search of work, as he feared for his life and employment opportunities were few in

International aid agency CARE will be distributing food packs to 2,800 families most affected by typhoon Hagupit.

“Not another Haiyan, please!”, was my first thought when I learned about a potential super typhoon hitting our region again and including our dear Tacloban in its path.

International aid agency CARE is now mobilising relief supplies as Typhoon Hagupit makes landfall in the central Philippines.

Geneva, December 8, 2014 - Ten years ago, the global community faced what was one of the biggest tests of humanitarianism in recent history. On Dec. 26, 2004, an earthquake rumbled off the coast of Indonesia, triggering a series of devastating tsunamis that struck 14 countries across the Indian Ocean. At least 228,000 people lost their lives and millions more were left homeless.

As typhoon Hagupit entered the Philippine area of responsibility this morning and is expected to make landfall on Saturday in Eastern Samar, CARE and partners are preparing emergency action plans to assist potentially affected populations.

“I want to tell you the story of how I got here,” the 32 year old woman starts telling me her story with a smile on her face. She likes to call herself Azab, which in Arabic means “anguish”.

Since September I have spent a significant amount of time in the Middle East to help coordinate CARE’s Syria Response. I have worked in numerous complex emergency situations in different countries around the world before, but the suffering I saw while I was leading CARE’s emergency response to the refugee influx from Kobane was unprecedented.

To mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, Heba Al Azzazy, Case Manager at CARE Egypt, talks about the situation of Syrian refugee women in Egypt, gender-based violence and why it is so important to constantly reach out to refugees.