Emergencies Archives - Page 123 of 125

India: A river runs through it

3/11/2008 Asia, Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, India by Caritas Communications

By Stalin. S, Caritas India and Caritas staff “It was almost 11 pm when water rushed into our village,” said Susil Kumar. His village was one of the hundreds to be washed away when floods devastated Bihar in India this year. “Within no time the water level reached more than four feet. All our belongings ...

Father Saúl de Jesús Solís Vera, Caritas Tabasco Director during the Tabasco Flood

3/11/2008 Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Latin America, Mexico by Caritas Communications

When you’ve just started a new job the last thing you need is to find yourself at the centre of a disaster where many people are turning to you for help This is what happened to Father Saúl de Jesús Solís Vera last year just a few months after he’d started working at Caritas in ...

Haitians cleaning up after Ike

3/11/2008 Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Emergencies in Haiti, Haiti, Latin America by Caritas Communications

By David Snyder for CRS and Caritas staff Like tens of thousands of those living in Gonaives, Haiti, Mertilus Jasmin spends most of his days knee deep in mud. Unlike most, however, he has a shovel in his hands, and is earning money to help dig the city out from the effects of Hurricane Ike. ...

Erica Dahl-Bredine, Mexico Country Representative for Catholic Relief Services during the Tabasco Flood

3/11/2008 Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Latin America, Mexico, North America, United States by Caritas Communications

The only way Erica Dahl-Bredine could reach the trouble spots of flooded Tabasco last November was by army helicopter. “As we flew into Villahermosa, the capital city of Tabasco, everything as far as the eye could see was under water. Whole villages, farmland, almost everything,” says Ms. Dahl-Bredine, Mexico country representative for Catholic Relief Services ...

Marooned by monsoon in India

3/11/2008 Asia, Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, India by Caritas Communications

Caritas plans to feed 270,000 people forced from their homes in India after monsoon rains caused a river bank to burst. Huge swaths of northeast Indian state of Bihar are submerged, leaving millions in desperate need of food, shelter, clean water, and rescue for some still in the danger zone. Caritas is using its years ...

Hugo Diaz Gutierrez, Caritas Tabasco Logistics Officer during the Tabasco Flood

3/11/2008 Conflicts and Disasters, Disaster Preparedness, Emergencies, Latin America, Mexico by Caritas Communications

Life since the 2007 floods has been a learning curve for Hugo Gutierrez. Last year he was one of the three part-timers working for Caritas Tabasco when the disaster happened. Father Saul hired a few more people so Gutierrez became a part of a team of seven, but there was still no denying the enormity ...

Aid reaches Georgia

3/11/2008 Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Europe, Georgia, Peacebuilding by Caritas Communications

“Then the bombs started falling from the planes,” said Lena, one of the 150,000 people made homeless by the conflict in Georgia. “We ran.” Most ran without food, clothing or shelter – just what they were wearing. Women and children, the sick and elderly were all forced from their homes as fighting broke out over ...

Emilie Della Corte, Emergency Programme Officer during the Tabasco Flood

3/11/2008 Conflicts and Disasters, Disaster Preparedness, Emergencies, Latin America, Mexico by Caritas Communications

Soon after the Mexican floods hit, Caritas launched an appeal for US$2 million to help the people of Tabasco. Emilie Della Corte works for Caritas Internationalis’ (CI) Emergency Response team in Rome. She and another colleague went to Mexico City to support Caritas Mexico in developing their emergency appeal. The document would request donations from ...

Caritas Vice President in solidarity visit to Georgia

3/11/2008 Advocacy, Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Europe, Georgia, Peacebuilding by Caritas Communications

“People were not prepared for the Russians entering their homes. They just fled. They didn’t know where they were going. They didn’t know where they were going to stay.” Caritas Internationalis Vice President and President of Caritas Europe, Fr Erny Gillen, has just returned from a visit to Georgia where tens of thousands of people have fled their homes to escape recent conflict.

A Week in the Life of an Aid Worker in Georgia

3/11/2008 Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Europe, Georgia, Peacebuilding by Caritas Communications

Laura Sheahen, an information officer for Catholic Relief Services (Caritas USA), was deployed to Georgia during the recent conflict. Here, she reflects on the first frantic week in the field.