Sea levels in Kiribati have averaged a rise of 3.7 millimetres a year since 1992 (Australian National Tidal centre). With sea levels rising and most of Kiribati only two meters high, the end is in sight for the 98,000 residents.
The newest member of the confederation, Caritas Samoa, found itself coping with a major emergency when a tsunami hit the Pacific Islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga in September.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has the highest HIV infection rate in the Pacific region. The true figure of people living with the disease in 2008 was estimated by the United Nations organisation UNAIDS at around 54,000 (out of a population of six million) although only half that figure was officially reported. Caritas supports an extensive ...
World hunger reached an historic high in 2009 with over a billion people going without enough food every day. Malnutrition increased by 13 percent in Asia, 8 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean and 6 percent in Africa.
Over 150 people are reported dead as a result of massive tsunami waves which hammered the South Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, after a huge earthquake at sea.
Caritas emergency officers are at full stretch bringing aid to the survivors of a series of humanitarian disasters. Typhoon Ketsana appeal Tyhpoon Ketsana (known locally as Typhoon Ondoy) has made 600,000 people homeless in the Philippines and left 1.8 million people in need. The storm has left a trail of destruction across Vietnam, Cambodia and ...
Caritas Oceania first raised the issue of climate change with the member organisations of Caritas Internationalis some years ago, when it was not a major issue for the Confederation, and is very pleased that Caritas Internationalis now has a strong focus on climate change.