We are responding to an escalating humanitarian crisis in southern Africa following Cyclone Idai which has resulted in widespread flooding and destruction in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
The cyclone made landfall on 14 March 2019 causing what the UN predicts may be the worst ever weather disaster to strike the Southern Hemisphere. Latest reports indicate that more than 1,000 lives have been lost and around 2.5 million people have been affected by devastating floods.
Our teams on the ground have begun providing food, clean water and sanitation, and shelter supplies to children and families made homeless by the cyclone.
East Africa emergency (including South Sudan): A complex hunger crisis driven by drought, conflict and political instability has left over 26 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda in need of life-saving assistance.
Syria crisis: After seven years of war, more than half of Syria’s population has been forced to flee their homes. Children and families who’ve become refugees and millions trapped inside Syria need help right now.
Rohingya Refugee Appeal: It's now over one year since hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar. Help us meet the urgent needs of families caught up in this crisis.
Indonesia tsunami emergency relief: Indonesia has been struck by a series of earthquakes and tsunamis in the past months. The most recent was in December 2018, where a three-metre tsunami struck the coastline of Java and Sumatra. You can help the hundreds of people in need of life-saving assistance.
Kerala floods: Incessant rains in August 2018 led to severe flooding across the Indian state of Kerala. Over 32 million people were affected, with homes and crops wiped out.
Mosul crisis: The military offensive to retake Mosul in Iraq caused thousands of children and families to flee. You can help them right now.
World Vision’s priority is to save lives, and often the first response is to distribute a range of items such as shelter kits, food, clean water and hygiene products.
Our work focuses on children, especially those left vulnerable because they have lost parents or carers, or have been left homeless.
Whenever possible we integrate our emergency relief responses with our development and advocacy activities, to ensure communities receive long-term support – such as income-generating projects – as they recover.
World Vision responds to two main types of emergency:
In large responses, World Vision works with the United Nations and other aid agencies to avoid duplication and make sure there are no gaps in the response.
Disasters or emergencies are assessed by World Vision as soon as it’s possible to do so; for example, when roads are considered safe to travel, or floods have receded. Then a response is worked out based on what people need and what damage has been done.
It will focus on helping those most in need and the most vulnerable, including children, women and the elderly, to ensure their basic needs are met and their human rights protected.
Poorer communities and countries aren’t the only ones hit by disasters, but they have fewer resources and less-robust infrastructure with which to deal with them. Australia is known as a country of terrible extremes and we’ve lived through some devastating emergencies, such as Black Saturday, but we have well-trained and resourced emergency services, some of the world’s best hospitals and doctors, high building standards, stable governments and countless other factors that help contribute to minimising the impact of emergencies and speeding up recovery.
Not every country is so lucky, and when emergencies hit there is little room for error, as:
Being prepared and having strategies in place to respond to emergencies is just one way World Vision helps people most in need.