disaster Archives - GlobalMedic

Super Typhoon Rai Response 2021

On December 16, 2021 the Philippines was hit by Super Typhoon Rai. Typhoon Rai has brought destruction and hardship to some of the most vulnerable communities already suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It carried gusts up to 270 km/h with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h near the centre making it the strongest storm to make landfall in the Philippines this year. The trail of Super Typhoon Rai crossed the Philippine archipelago from Caraga to Eastern and Central Visayas and Palawan.

As of December 22, there have been 177 fatalities, 275 injured and 38 people remain missing. The storm has affected 2.6 million people and more than 660,000 people continue to be displaced and there are across nearly 2,000 evacuation centres in affected areas. Electricity is out in hundreds of municipalities and due to the severity of the storm it is estimated it may be up to three months before electricity is restored to all locations. Nearly 55,000 houses were damaged by the high winds and will require repairs before they become habitable again.

Meanwhile, meteorologists are continuing to watch a new weather system forming over the Pacific which would bring more rain to the affected areas beginning on December 24.

270 KM PER HOUR GUSTS

2.6 MILLION AFFECTED

660,000+ PEOPLE DISPLACED

GlobalMedic is getting ready to mobilize and respond to this disaster. We are putting together Family Emergency Kits which will provide families with essential resources. The kits contain a ceramic household water filtration unit to provide access to clean drinking water at the point of use. They also contain essential hygiene items like soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, along with oral rehydration salts. Finally, the kits contain a solar light which can be used to extend the day and provide increased security while families are displaced.

We will continue to evaluate needs on the ground and adapt our response as necessary.

World Food Day 2021

Morgan Clark – Emergency Programs Officer

World Food Day (WFD) 2021 is on October 16! World Food Day has been celebrated annually since 1981 to commemorate the founding of the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and increase awareness of world hunger and poverty.

WFD is celebrated each year to inspire solutions for world change in the food and agriculture sector and to raise awareness of global food insecurity. WFD is especially important to GlobalMedic as a humanitarian organization that operates food-related programs in Canada and around the world.

About World Food Day 2021

World Food Day is one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar, collectively observed across 150 countries, including Canada. Hundreds of events, outreach activities, and educational materials promote worldwide awareness and action for those experiencing hunger and food insecurity. World Food Day celebrations also highlight the need to ensure healthy diets for all. It’s a day when Governments, businesses, NGOs, the media, and the general public can come together in an effort to eradicate world hunger.

Who is the UN FAO?

The UN FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, founded in 1945, that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. The UN FAO’s Latin motto, fiat panis, translates to “let there be bread”. Their goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

Why care about food systems?

Every time you eat, you participate in global agri-food systems. From the food you choose at the store and the way food is produced, prepared, cooked, and stored, makes us all an integral and active part of how the system works.

The world’s agri-food systems currently employ 1 billion people worldwide, which is more than any other economic sector. Moreover, food production, consumption, and, sadly, waste, exacts a heavy toll on our planet. Over 30% of the world’s food is either lost due to inadequate harvesting, handling, storage, and transit or wasted at the consumer level. Such inefficiency is costing trillions of dollars, but, most importantly, today’s agri-food systems are exposing profound inequalities and injustices in our global society. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these issues, making it even harder for farmers to sell their harvests, while rising poverty is pushing an increased number of city residents to use food banks, and millions of people require emergency food aid.

According to the UN FAO, more than 3 billion people (almost 40% of the world’s population) cannot afford a healthy diet, while obesity continues to increase worldwide.

What GlobalMedic is doing to combat food insecurity?

In keeping with our mandate to deliver the right aid to the right people at the right time, our approach to delivering food aid is both innovative and adaptable. We operate both domestic and international food programs, ensuring that the food we deliver is culturally appropriate and best fits the needs of our beneficiaries.

The goal of our international Emergency Food Program is simple – we want to do emergency food better. Accessing adequate and healthy food sources can be extremely difficult for families in conflict and disaster zones around the world, so to address these needs of nutritional support, GlobalMedic distributes Emergency Food Kits. The first iteration of these food kits provided families with an easy-to-make, ready-to-cook meal that is calorically dense and nutritious. Not only are these meals tasty and culturally appropriate, but they are also easy to prepare and have long shelf lives, so families on the move don’t have to worry about spoilage. We worked with local partners to provide these types of food kits to families in Syria, Indonesia, and Ukraine.

As we developed and improved our Emergency Food Program, looking for ways to make it more cost-effective and increasingly impactful, the Emergency Food Kits transitioned into a ‘pantry style’ food program. These kits contain a pantry of multiple culturally appropriate staple ingredients, such as rice, beans, lentils, and grits, to be assembled at the discretion of the beneficiary. This pantry solution provides families with more autonomy in their food preparation and allows us to provide more aid at a similar price point.

Over the past few years, GlobalMedic has supported families in Antigua & Barbuda, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and the Bahamas through our Emergency Food Program. To learn more about our international food programs, click here.

McAntony’s Menu, a part of The Grassroots Revolution, is the domestic version of our food program. It was designed to complement and support the heavily utilized local food bank systems that serve the 1 in 8 families in Canada who are food insecure. This program is a unique way to think about and approach food donation. To keep our costs low and make the biggest impact possible, we leverage our existing supply chains to buy bulk bags of pantry staples like rice, green peas, red lentils, and chickpeas and then mobilize our dedicated volunteers to repack the food into 500g bags. These family-sized portions are then boxed up and delivered to food banks and other support programs across the country, for a third to a quarter of the retail price. As with our international beneficiaries, we also prioritize maintaining the dignity of our domestic beneficiaries through this program, and by removing our logo and name from the packaging, these products do not look like “charity food”.

Since its launch in 2020, we have delivered more than 1,432,000 lbs of food through our McAntony’s Menu program. To learn more about the program, click here.

Food Insecurity and COVID-19

Our extensive experience with implementing emergency food programs domestically and internationally allowed GlobalMedic to quickly expand our operations at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past 18 months, we have handed out McAntony’s Menu pantry staples at various vaccination clinics, including The Canadian Centre for Refugee & Immigrant Health Care (CCRIHC), and packed over 13,000 food hampers for First Nations communities. In addition to our regular McAntony’s Menu program, we partnered with local food banks to deliver additional programs in response to the growing food insecurity fuelled by the pandemic. With the support of our dedicated volunteers, GlobalMedic has been assembling food hampers for North York Harvest and Feed Ontario and sorting food donation bins for Mississauga Food Bank. We have also partnered with Hand Up Toronto to run our Feed the Six Campaign, which provides vulnerable families in the GTA with food hampers. These hampers are also packed by GlobalMedic’s amazing volunteers and then distributed via contactless delivery by Hand Up Toronto volunteer drivers. Since the start of Feed the Six in the spring of 2020, GlobalMedic has packed and distributed over 23,000 of these food hampers around the GTA.

GlobalMedic’s international and domestic food programming is possible thanks to the ongoing support of our devoted volunteers and generous donors. In celebration of #WorldFoodDay2021, we invite you to join us in the fight against hunger! Make a donation to our Emergency Relief Fund here or learn more about opportunities to volunteer with us here.

Haiti Earthquake Response 2021

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On August 14, at 8:29 ET Haiti was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that caused widespread destruction in the Sud, Grand’Anse, Nippes, & Nord-Oues Departments. Only two days later, Tropical Depression Grace passed through the country, adding landslides and flooding to the initial damage. Hundreds of aftershocks continued throughout August and September, posing even more risks to an already vulnerable population. More than 60 health facilities were damaged across the most affected departments, and 171 school buildings were completely completely destroyed, representing roughly 16 per cent of all schools in these areas. At least 83,770 homes suffered varying degrees of damage and 53,815 were completely destroyed. An estimated 2,200 people were declared dead and 329 were missing following the disaster.

Haiti has been in an ongoing state of recovery since the 2010 earthquake recovery that has already been hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent assassination of the president.

There is an urgent need for fresh water as thousands of Haitians have been displaced and many homes have been left without electricity and water. This need is compounded by the elevated risks of waterborne diseases such as cholera as well as the potential spread of COVID. Food insecurity is also a critical issue – prior to the earthquake, an estimated 4 million people were already food-insecure and at risk of hunger in Haiti. The earthquake has increased the number of people experiencing food insecurity and worsened the conditions for those already food insecure.

800,000+ PEOPLE AFFECTED

650,000+ IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

100,000+ DAMAGED & DESTROYED HOMES

GlobalMedic sent prepositioned aid prior to the earthquake, including 1,600 of Family Emergency Kits, each with enough Procter & Gamble Purifier of Water Sachets to purify 2,400 litres of water. An additional 720 Family Emergency Kits were packed with Imerys Household Water Purification Units, a compact and easy-to-use system that provides families with access to clean drinking water. All of the Family Emergency Kits contained essential hygiene items such as soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as solar lights. This prepositioning allowed our partner, World Vision, to immediately distribute a total of 2,320 Family Emergency Kits to families in need of fresh water.

Shortly after the earthquake, we deployed our Rapid Response Team to bring in 6 AquaResponse3 Water Purification Systems. The team collaborated with GlobalMedic’s local partners to ensure that the Water Purification Systems were put into use right away.

Volunteers in Canada assembled 400 Emergency Food Kits which were sent to Haiti by air. The kits contain dried staple foods, such as rice, pasta, green peas, corn meal, kidney beans and pigeon peas. Our local partners are in the process of distributing essential food items to families that need them most.

Following this initial response, we sent an additional 960 Emergency Food Kits, 6,433 Family Emergency Kits, 2,600,000 Aquatabs and 86,400 Oral Rehydration Salt sachets.

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World Humanitarian Day 2021

Kaitlin Waters – Communications Intern

World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is held every year on August 19, to pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, and to rally support for people affected by crises around the world. GlobalMedic also tributes WHD as the day that we all collectively recognize humanitarian personnel and their efforts, as well as the rising climate crisis.

GlobalMedic was founded on emergency response and humanitarianism. While we run many non-emergency and capacity-building programs, most of our work continues to be critical intervention in the wake of disaster and crisis. WHD is the day we get to reflect with our global community on all the hard work we’ve collectively done over the years.

A Bit of History on World Humanitarian Day

World Humanitarian Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his fellow humanitarians in a bombing of the Baghdad headquarters of the UN in 2003. The United Nations General Assembly formalized the day as World Humanitarian Day in 2009. Each year WHD focuses on a theme, and last year’s theme was paying special tribute to the real-life heroes who have committed their lives to help others in the most extreme circumstances around the world, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year WHD is highlighting “the immediate human cost of the climate crisis by pressuring world leaders to take meaningful climate action for the world’s most vulnerable people (UN, 2021).”

What’s so Important About This Year’s Theme?

Over the years, it has become more widely understood that climate change and climate emergencies have immediate consequences on the world, especially to the most vulnerable. This year’s WHD is focused on highlighting these consequences and ensuring that the voices of vulnerable people are heard. With the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, this theme is set to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In hopes that the COP26 world leaders not only talk about climate change but also what nations are planning to do to tackle it.

#TheHumanRace is not just about raising awareness or the COP26 conference, it’s about no longer standing on the sidelines, and entering the race against climate change. GlobalMedic has been a part of #TheHumanRace and operating in disasters and conflicts for almost 20 years. Within our years of operation we’ve noticed that the needs are only continuing to increase and as a global community, we need to be aware of some of these consequences.

“The climate crisis doesn’t affect everyone equally. People in vulnerable communities are already losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives”
UN, 2021

What GlobalMedic Does to Combat Climate Emergencies

During my summer internship, I’ve learned about the wide array of programs and responses that operate within GlobalMedic. From the Water, Food, Flood, Medical, Shelter, and drone RescUAV programs, GlobalMedic is diversified and modular in any humanitarian situation, both domestically in Canada and abroad to help people in need.

GlobalMedic’s responses are usually in conjunction with humanitarian crises and consistent climate disruption. Hurricanes, forest fires, droughts, and floods have been increasingly prevalent in day-to-day life and have become more severe due to the continuous strain we put on our environment. Climate change is a top driver of humanitarian need and human suffering, particularly for the poorest countries. The impacts threaten to deepen already wide inequalities, resulting in consequences felt by the world at large, including instability, violence, and displacement. The climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis.

Below are some responses GlobalMedic runs in conjunction with the climate change and humanitarian crisis:

Forest Fires

Forest fires have been increasing dramatically, as climate change is leading to longer, harsher droughts and more extreme weather events. In early 2020, we witnessed this through the massive forest fires that blazed through Australia, an event that heightened our awareness of the impacts we have on our environment.

GlobalMedic responded to the wildfires here in Canada from Fort McMurray in 2016, British Columbia in 2017, and Alberta in 2019. GlobalMedic is also on standby with the forest fires spreading across Canada this year, and even more alarmed that forest fires have broken out in other parts of the world like the Mediterranean. Our responses are built upon the resources, support, and capacity to manage the emergency. However, with increased fluctuation in both the intensity and amount of forest fires, and natural disasters in general, many organizations must prepare for an increased strain on their operations, and the people being affected.

Time is already running out for the world’s most vulnerable people — those who have contributed least to the global climate emergency yet are hit the hardest, and millions of others are already losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives.

A group of volunteers packing hygiene kits to support Canadians in Fort McMurray

Hurricanes

Climate change has increased tropical cyclone intensity, rainfall, and storm surges. We can see these increased intensities through Hurricane Dorian 2019, and Hurricanes Eta and Iota that hit the same areas back-to-back at the end of 2020 — both of which GlobalMedic responded to. With hurricanes and tropical storms becoming more severe, GlobalMedic wants to highlight the immediate consequences of the climate emergency for the world’s most vulnerable people. We as a global community need to stand in solidarity with the needs of climate-vulnerable people and make sure their voices are heard.

Hurricane Dorian 2019 was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, which became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas and tied for the strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin. It is also regarded as the worst natural disaster in the Bahamas’ recorded history. 43 people were killed and over 76,000 people were affected by the storm. With the damage so extensive, people in the Bahamas were in immediate need of clean water, food, and shelter items. Immediately following the storm, GlobalMedic deployed our Rapid Response Team with several aid responses and the RescUAV Team with drones to provide on-the-ground assistance. Though GlobalMedic may have alleviated the humanitarian emergency within the area, we cannot help but reflect that this is a worldly by-product of environmental negligence.

#TheHumanRace

Because of everyone’s increased struggle in combating the effects of climate change, this year’s theme is aimed at increasing awareness, action, and vocalization of climate change. Join GlobalMedic and other humanitarian leaders and organizations in their efforts. May it be volunteering, donating, or becoming an environmental advocate in your day-to-day life, one thing is for certain, #TheHumanRace has already started, and we are not too far behind to catch up!

Click to find out more about World Humanitarian Day, GlobalMedic’s Hurricane Dorian response as well as our other programs, and how you can be a part of #TheHumanRace!

Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota Response 2021

Hurricanes Eta and Iota have severely impacted countries across Central America. In early November Hurricane Eta crossed through Central America bringing with it persistent winds and heavy rainfall. This resulted in flooding, landslides and crop damage across Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Only two weeks later Hurricane Iota, the strongest Atlantic hurricane of 2020, made landfall over northern Nicaragua and continued along virtually the same path as Hurricane Eta. Once again the region was hit with strong winds and rainfall, exacerbating the previous damage caused by Hurricane Eta.

7.3 MILLION AFFECTED

500,000+ DISPLACED

2 CATEGORY 4 STORMS

It is estimated that 7.3 million people have been affected by these storms, with Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras having the highest number of affected people. In many places floodwaters have not fully receded and in Honduras additional rainfall in December has only worsened the flooding. These storms have hit highly vulnerable communities with existing needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. GlobalMedic is responding.

Our Response

We are packing Family Emergency Kits to distribute to families affected by these hurricanes. The Family Emergency Kits include a water purification system, basic hygiene items, and a solar light. The water purification system is vital because many families have lost their homes and access to clean drinking water. The hygiene items are included to help families regain a sense of normalcy as well as prevent the spread of COVID-19. The solar lights provided much needed light and security since many were without electricity. In partnership with World Vision we are distributing 2,320 FEKs in Honduras and an additional 2,320 FEKs in Nicaragua.

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Philippines: Typhoon Goni and Vamco Response 2020

On November 1, 2020 Typhoon Goni made landfall in the Philippines and is the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year. Just over a week later, Typhoon Vamco made landfall becoming the fifth tropical storm to reach the country in a three week period. These storms brought destructive winds and torrential rainfall, triggering extensive flooding across multiple regions in the country.

2+ MILLION AFFECTED

5 STORMS IN 3 WEEKS

500,000 DISPLACED

Over 2 million people have been affected by severe flooding and more than 500,000 people have been displaced. Landslides and power outages are affecting many parts of the country and families have been forced into evacuation centres. GlobalMedic is responding.

Our Response

We are packing Family Emergency Kits to distribute to families affected by the typhoons in the Philippines. The Family Emergency Kits include a water purification system, basic hygiene items, and a solar light. The water purification system is vital because many families have lost their homes and access to clean drinking water. The hygiene items are included to help families regain a sense of normalcy as well as prevent the spread of COVID-19. The solar lights provided much needed light and security since many were without electricity.

We have also been working with our local partners, the Trinity Fire Volunteer Department, to respond to emergent needs on the ground. We have helped to fund the procurement of a rescue boat and other rescue supplies which are being used to rescue those trapped by flash flooding. We are also working with them to distribute aid and assisting with the initial debris clean up.

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