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UN humanitarian chief, praising German leadership on early action, announces $45m for Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya

UN humanitarian chief, praising German leadership on early action, announces $45m for Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya
7 June 2019

Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Wednesday told an audience in Berlin he was allocating US$45 million from [...]

Bangladesh: How forecast-based financing supported objective decision-making in advance of Cyclone Fani

Bangladesh: How forecast-based financing supported objective decision-making in advance of Cyclone Fani
6 June 2019

(This story appeared first yesterday on the IFRC news site. It has been edited slightly here for length.) When a [...]

Norwegian Red Cross research ‘leaves no doubt’ about scale of global commitment required on climate

Norwegian Red Cross research ‘leaves no doubt’ about scale of global commitment required on climate
6 June 2019

The Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross, Bernt Apeland, says the evidence of the humanitarian impacts of climate change [...]

EU science academies: growing evidence climate change affecting human health

EU science academies: growing evidence climate change affecting human health
5 June 2019

Experts from 27 national science academies in the European Union say in a new report that despite difficulties with attribution, [...]

Cook Islands prepares for ‘early action rainfall watch’

Cook Islands prepares for ‘early action rainfall watch’
30 May 2019

(A version of this story first appeared last week on the SPREP news site.) Cook Islands stakeholders last week participated [...]

Afghanistan: millions still in desperate need after flood crisis

Afghanistan: millions still in desperate need after flood crisis
22 May 2019

(This story appeared first on the IFRC news site yesterday.) Afghan Red Crescent volunteers and staff are still hard at [...]

IFRC at #GPDRR2019: ‘Let’s be climate smart and risk informed in all we do’

IFRC at #GPDRR2019: ‘Let’s be climate smart and risk informed in all we do’
17 May 2019

The week-long Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, hosted by the Swiss government in Geneva and organized by UNDRR, closed [...]

UN: ‘If we continue engaging with each other and the planet as we do, then our very survival is in doubt’

UN: ‘If we continue engaging with each other and the planet as we do, then our very survival is in doubt’
16 May 2019

(This story appeared first on the Thomson Reuters Foundation news site yesterday and has been edited here for length. The Global [...]

IFRC: Cyclone Idai casts a shadow over global disaster conference

IFRC: Cyclone Idai casts a shadow over global disaster conference
15 May 2019

(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC yesterday. It has been edited here for time references only. [...]

‘Early warning must reach the last metre. The last mile is not enough’

‘Early warning must reach the last metre. The last mile is not enough’
15 May 2019

The Second Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference (MHEWC) organized by the World Meteorological Organization ended in Geneva yesterday with what the [...]

Afghanistan: ‘Drought has finished all our livestock – now it’s killing people’

Afghanistan: ‘Drought has finished all our livestock – now it’s killing people’
8 May 2019

(This personal story was one of three told to Gorata Fembo published by the IFRC’s Asia-Pacific regional office in Kuala [...]

Netherlands wants development programming that’s sensitive to both conflict and climate

Netherlands wants development programming that’s sensitive to both conflict and climate
8 May 2019

The Dutch government last week called for “more and better [development] programming that is both conflict- and climate-sensitive”. The Director [...]

With climate change ‘greatest long-term threat’ facing Maldives, Red Crescent 2030 strategy focuses on resilience

With climate change ‘greatest long-term threat’ facing Maldives, Red Crescent 2030 strategy focuses on resilience
8 May 2019

The recently launched Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC) Strategic Plan 2019–2030 calls for the inclusion of “integrated risk assessments into island, [...]

Early warning for waves helping to build resilience in Tuvalu

Early warning for waves helping to build resilience in Tuvalu
7 May 2019

(This story appeared first last week on the website of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme.) In 2015, [...]

UN praises ‘almost pinpoint accuracy’ of forecast-based warnings, with clean-up underway in India and Bangladesh from Cyclone Fani

UN praises ‘almost pinpoint accuracy’ of forecast-based warnings, with clean-up underway in India and Bangladesh from Cyclone Fani
6 May 2019

The UN and local media have praised the accuracy of the forecast-based warnings that kept deaths from Cyclone Fani in [...]

IFRC: One of the strongest storms to strike the Indian subcontinent in decades makes landfall

IFRC: One of the strongest storms to strike the Indian subcontinent in decades makes landfall
3 May 2019

(This story first appeared on the IFRC news site earlier today.) Cyclone Fani, one of the strongest storms to hit [...]

Green Climate Fund looking for ‘last mile’ project proposals (like FbF)

Green Climate Fund looking for ‘last mile’ project proposals (like FbF)
3 May 2019

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) says it’s looking for more project proposals that incorporate the ‘last mile’ to communities. “These [...]

Hong Kong Red Cross explores the ‘climate message’ through games

Hong Kong Red Cross explores the ‘climate message’ through games
1 May 2019

The Climate Centre last week facilitated a three-day training session on climate games for the Hong Kong Red Cross – [...]

Second Mozambique cyclone: is history pointing finger at climate change?

Second Mozambique cyclone: is history pointing finger at climate change?
1 May 2019

The IFRC yesterday said lives are still at risk in the far north of Mozambique as the remnants of Tropical [...]

New papers highlight potential of social protection in managing climate risk

New papers highlight potential of social protection in managing climate risk
1 May 2019

The IFRC together with the United Nations children’s agency Unicef and the UK Department for International Development last month jointly [...]

A ‘mega event of ideas’ in Pakistan for tackling climate change

A ‘mega event of ideas’ in Pakistan for tackling climate change
24 April 2019

The Pakistan Red Crescent Society and the German Red Cross Monday announced the results of their ‘Climathon’ competition to promote [...]

IFRC at centenary climate and health conference in Cannes: a call for ‘inspiration, resolve, leadership’

IFRC at centenary climate and health conference in Cannes: a call for ‘inspiration, resolve, leadership’
17 April 2019

The major global conference on climate and health organized by the French Red Cross in the Mediterranean city of Cannes [...]

‘We don’t want 2 degrees. We want 1.5 or we will become the nomads of the Pacific. Our home, our paradise, will disappear’

‘We don’t want 2 degrees. We want 1.5 or we will become the nomads of the Pacific. Our home, our paradise, will disappear’
15 April 2019

The major global conference on climate and health organized by the French Red Cross has got underway in the Mediterranean city [...]

The first ‘humanitarian COP’

The first ‘humanitarian COP’
12 April 2019

(Editors: an IFRC media advisory to mark this occasion was issued yesterday in Cannes and Geneva.) Delegates were gathering in the [...]

CBA13: ‘We want dignified communities, self-reliant communities able to solve their own climate issues’

CBA13: ‘We want dignified communities, self-reliant communities able to solve their own climate issues’
10 April 2019

More than 250 people attended the 13th international conference on community-based adaptation to climate change (CBA13) in Addis Ababa last week to discuss how [...]

Forging partnerships for early warning early action in Tuvalu

Forging partnerships for early warning early action in Tuvalu
7 April 2019

The challenges of reaching the ‘last mile’ and building the partnerships needed to address them were front and centre in [...]

‘Iran is under water’

‘Iran is under water’
5 April 2019

(This story is an IFRC press release issued on Wednesday.) As the flooding emergency in Iran worsens, the world’s largest [...]

‘Storm-hit Mozambique must rebuild for “tomorrow’s climate”’

‘Storm-hit Mozambique must rebuild for “tomorrow’s climate”’
28 March 2019

(This story appeared first yesterday on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It has been edited slightly here for [...]

IFRC: Climate change increasing hardship in Afghanistan where 10m people living with aftermath of extreme weather

IFRC: Climate change increasing hardship in Afghanistan where 10m people living with aftermath of extreme weather
28 March 2019

(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC in Kabul, Kuala Lumpur and Geneva earlier today.) Ten million [...]

IFRC Secretary General: Speed, quality and scale of response critical to preventing disease outbreaks in Mozambique

IFRC Secretary General: Speed, quality and scale of response critical to preventing disease outbreaks in Mozambique
27 March 2019

(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC in Beira, Nairobi and Geneva on Monday. It has been [...]

Uganda Red Cross pioneers Y-Adapt in Africa

Uganda Red Cross pioneers Y-Adapt in Africa
27 March 2019

The Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) earlier this year became the first National Society in Africa to roll out the [...]

New professorship will boost role of science in humanitarian mission to reduce climate risk

New professorship will boost role of science in humanitarian mission to reduce climate risk
26 March 2019

(A version of this story first appeared earlier today as a press release from the University of Twente in Dutch [...]

Australian cyclones: ‘Know your weather, know your risk’

Australian cyclones: ‘Know your weather, know your risk’
25 March 2019

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said Saturday it had “mobilized its full national resources well in advance of tropical cyclones Trevor [...]

Cyclone Idai in Mozambique: ‘The scale of this crisis is staggering’

Cyclone Idai in Mozambique: ‘The scale of this crisis is staggering’
23 March 2019

(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC yesterday in Beira, Nairobi and Geneva. New video of the IFRC Secretary [...]

Red Cross deploys ERUs to Beira as Idai survivors arrive by sea

Red Cross deploys ERUs to Beira as Idai survivors arrive by sea
22 March 2019

(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC yesterday in Beira, Nairobi and Geneva; it has been edited [...]

Mozambique: ‘Many, many families have lost everything’

Mozambique: ‘Many, many families have lost everything’
19 March 2019

(This story is a press release issued earlier today by the IFRC jointly in Beira, Nairobi and Geneva. The latest [...]

First aerial views: devastation in Beira after Cyclone Idai

First aerial views: devastation in Beira after Cyclone Idai
18 March 2019

(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC in Geneva and Nairobi earlier today.) The scale of damage [...]

IFRC releases humanitarian cash for Mozambique as Cyclone Idai makes landfall

IFRC releases humanitarian cash for Mozambique as Cyclone Idai makes landfall
14 March 2019

The IFRC Thursday released US$ 344,000 in cash from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to help Mozambique address the impacts [...]

Emergency teams in Mozambique on alert as ‘dangerous and powerful’ Tropical Cyclone Idai bears down on coast

Emergency teams in Mozambique on alert as ‘dangerous and powerful’ Tropical Cyclone Idai bears down on coast
13 March 2019

(This story is a press release issued by the IFRC in Nairobi and Geneva yesterday.) Mozambique is on high alert [...]

Harnessing humour to address risk: Red Cross Red Crescent launches cartoon caption competition

Harnessing humour to address risk: Red Cross Red Crescent launches cartoon caption competition
6 March 2019

The evidence is irrefutable: Humour can help improve communication, build relationships, enhance problem solving, and enable difficult conversations.  Humanitarian work requires creative [...]

Report: Heat-related deaths and illness largely preventable

Report: Heat-related deaths and illness largely preventable
1 March 2019

A new technical report on heatwaves believed to be the first of its kind commissioned by the United States Agency [...]

Indian Red Cross signs on dotted line for strengthened collaboration with met department on forecasts, extremes, resilience

Indian Red Cross signs on dotted line for strengthened collaboration with met department on forecasts, extremes, resilience
27 February 2019

The Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) and the Indian government’s Earth System Science Organization umbrella agency that includes the country’s [...]

‘Quite exceptional’ winter heatwave in UK sets new temperature records

‘Quite exceptional’ winter heatwave in UK sets new temperature records
27 February 2019

The British Met Office today confirmed that new one-day temperature records for February and winter have been set for England, [...]

‘From Iraq and Pakistan to the Caribbean, climate change is driving threats of new insecurity and violence’

‘From Iraq and Pakistan to the Caribbean, climate change is driving threats of new insecurity and violence’
21 February 2019

(This story appeared first on Tuesday on the website of the Thomson Reuters Foundation; it has been edited slightly here [...]

IFRC: Hundreds of thousands ‘worryingly exposed’ in Cox’s Bazar camps ahead of cyclone and monsoon seasons

IFRC: Hundreds of thousands ‘worryingly exposed’ in Cox’s Bazar camps ahead of cyclone and monsoon seasons
19 February 2019

(This story appeared first on the IFRC website yesterday. It has been edited here for time references.) An estimated 574,000 [...]

‘Early action protocol’ in place to protect Peru’s alpaca herders

‘Early action protocol’ in place to protect Peru’s alpaca herders
14 February 2019

The IFRC reported Tuesday that the first early-action protocol of the forecast-based component of its DREF emergency fund is now [...]

CNN report on Red Cross help to Zimbabwe’s farmers facing ‘triple challenge’ of climate change, food security and HIV

CNN report on Red Cross help to Zimbabwe’s farmers facing ‘triple challenge’ of climate change, food security and HIV
14 February 2019

A CNN International Edition report says a community-resilience programme run by a partnership of the Zimbabwe and British Red Cross [...]

With South Pacific cyclone season underway, Red Cross societies prepared and ready

With South Pacific cyclone season underway, Red Cross societies prepared and ready
13 February 2019

(This story is an IFRC press release issued earlier today in Suva, Kuala Lumpur and Geneva.) With the South Pacific [...]

Climate and disaster: PfR-supported seminar for East African journalists

Climate and disaster: PfR-supported seminar for East African journalists
12 February 2019

Partners for Resilience agencies late last month hosted a week-long seminar for nearly 40 journalists from Ethiopia and Uganda in [...]

‘The world from which the humanitarian system emerged no longer exists’

‘The world from which the humanitarian system emerged no longer exists’
8 February 2019

This year’s Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships (HNPW) week in Geneva Wednesday heard calls from senior panellists for the refining and expansion [...]

WMO: Past 22 years include 20 warmest on record

WMO: Past 22 years include 20 warmest on record
8 February 2019

In what it describes as “a clear sign of continuing long-term climate change associated with record atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse [...]