Asia Pacific

This is a disaster displacement crisis unlike many others. Six months after a series of deadly earthquakes, with the worst on 5 August 2018, nearly half a million people in west, north and east Lombok are staying in small shelters they have cobbled together from plastic, tarpaulins or materials salvaged from their nearby damaged or destroyed houses.

Most people working in the camps in Cox’s Bazar call it the “rubber garden”. For displaced communities living there, the “rubber garden”, or Red Cross Red Crescent emergency field hospital is where they seek medical aid, have their wounds treated, and where their babies are delivered. Since 16 October 2017, the hospital has seen over 52,000 patients, admitted over 1,900, performed an estimated 2,700 surgeries and delivered over 600 babies. The hospital is run by a bevy of doctors, nurses, translators and general workers from various nationalities, all focused on delivering life-saving support and helping to treat ailments and mend wounds.

Mongolia is in the grips of a serious influenza A (H1N1) outbreak. The combination of extreme cold, toxic air, poverty, the risk of pneumonia and the coming Lunar New Year are posing deadly risks especially for young children. Temperatures lower than minus 40 degrees Celsius, air pollution and cramped living conditions are pushing up influenza rates, making it a kids’ crisis.  In the Songinokhairkhan District Hospital, Galsantseden Badrakh, the hospital’s chief physician and leading pediatrician, is seeing an overflow of patients.

“I’m happy to participate in this cyclone preparedness training because one of my neighbors, Yassin Siddiq, was in the last group and he trained me to prepare for cyclones. Now I can train others too,” says Mustafa Kamal, resident of the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.

By Maude Froberg, IFRC The sound of digging echoes over the mountain slope in the early morning. It is a slow arduous digging, as the soil is becoming more frozen by the day. Choe Gwang Chol, volunteer from the Red Cross, leans against his spade and pa …