Emergencies

  • When an emergency hits, Oxfam is there. We work with local partners on the ground so we can save lives during times of crisis and reduce future risks. We help people caught up in natural disasters and conflicts by providing clean water, food, sanitation and protection. At any given time, we’re responding to over 30 emergency situations, giving life-saving support to those most in need.

Digging in the dust

Posted by: Amy Christian

The soft soil falls away easily as the sharp metal hits the ground. Again and again Falah Abiya raises the axe above his head and brings it down on the compacted earth. Two of his colleagues stand waiting beside him, stepping in with shovels to remove the soil he has loosened.

The blue skies, dotted with clouds and the mid morning autumn sun do not match the tough work that Falah and his team have to do in Mosul today. They are digging graves in a large cemetery in the west of the city. “We have twenty-two to dig today”, Falah comments in between swinging his pick Axe.

Falah’s team work for the department of Forensic Pathology, which is being supported by Mosul General Hospital. Although they usually spend their days digging graves for people who have just died, today their work is of a different kind. They are working on a special programme to help the state identify bodies that have already been buried.

“The work we are doing here is very sensitive but very necessary”, says Dr Aziz, who works at Mosul General Hospital. “It’s important we know who has died and why. We must make sure the people buried in those graves are the people we have been told they are. Once we have recovered a body we run DNA tests to check.”

Today Hamid Hassan Jassim stands watching Falah’s team at work; the grave belongs to his brother Mahmud. “He died in a suicide bombing at a checkpoint. His head was missing when we buried him,” he says. Suddenly Falah’s axe hits something hard and he uses his hands to expose a wooden plank which he then pulls from the hole. Three of the team carefully lower themselves into the hole and slowly pull out a black plastic body bag.

Everyone is quiet as the team unzip the plastic bag and reveal what is left of Mahmud’s body, wrapped in a red blanket. The forensic examiner pulls on rubber gloves and carefully opens the blanket before inspecting its contents. He immediately confirms the head is missing and through his examination he also suggests that the man did in fact die in an explosion. He takes samples and zips the bag back up.

“Oxfam has supported the hospital in a lot of ways since Mosul was retaken.” Says Dr Aziz. The axes Falah and the team are using were donated to Oxfam and then the hospital by Irish Aid. As were other essential items such as mosquito nets which are being used to keep the flies off of burns patients and those with extensive wounds. “We hope we will continue to receive support from Oxfam so that we can keep doing this essential work and taking care of people who need urgent medical care.”

Mosul General Hospital sees an estimated 800 patients a day. As well as providing the pick axes, Oxfam has supported the hospital with essential items such as water tanks, bottled water, emergency food rations, blankets and mosquito nets.

Hamid stands and watches Falah and his colleague Sadam Hamadi carefully lower his brother Mahmud’s newly wrapped body back into the ground, re-covering it with the soft soil. They then throw their shovels and pick axes over their shoulders and make a move to the next grave. They have twenty one more to dig today.

 

 

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Two weeks into the Yemen blockade – Fuel, Food and Medicines Running Out

Posted by: Oxfam Media Team

19 November 2017 

Two weeks since land, air and seaports in Yemen were closed, aid agencies are appalled by the complacency and indifference of the international community regarding the historic humanitarian disaster now unfolding.

Aid agencies are gravely concerned about a new outbreak of cholera and other water borne diseases. UNICEF warns that they only have 15 days’ left of diphtheria vaccines. They are due to receive a new shipment late November but still have not received clearance. If this vaccine is not brought in, one million children will be at risk of preventable diseases.

The fuel shortage in Yemen means clean water in the country is more and more scarce. Water networks are closing by the day as fuel for the pumps runs out and pipes run dry. The lack of water poses grave risks to young children most of all. Schools will become centres of disease rather than centres of knowledge.

With no fuel, hospitals are closing wards and struggling to operate intensive care units and surgical operation theatres. Refrigeration units for essential medicines are being turned off for periods of time to save fuel. Doctors, some of whom have not been paid for ten months, are asking INGOs and UN to share their small supplies of fuel to run their life-saving generators; INGOs are citing one month fuel supply only.

Agencies are starting to double the value of the cash distributions to the most vulnerable people. This will enable people to buy and stock food for the coming cold winter months before prices rise beyond their means. This means agencies will exhaust their funds allocated for next year. Additionally, aid agencies have grave concerns for wellbeing of people that are currently inaccessible.

The country’s stocks of wheat and sugar will not last for longer than three months if cargo vessels are not allowed to discharge in Hodeidah, the country’s only deep water seaport, in the next few days. Even if they are allowed, food distribution systems have been severely disrupted and may collapse within weeks. Moreover, having incurred so many additional costs and in a highly volatile environment, international traders may decide that importing to Yemen is too risky a proposition to continue.

The international community must break its shameful silence and use all possible means to lift the blockade on Yemen immediately. Hodeidah port, that serviced 80% of all imports, and Sana’a airport, needs to be reopened to let in urgently needed shipments of food, fuel, and medicines. Every day the blockade lasts means thousands of Yemenis will suffer from hunger and preventable diseases. Millions could die in a historic famine if the blockade continues indefinitely. This is not the time for carefully balanced statements. The choice is between resolution, or complicity in the suffering; there is no third option.

 

Daniel English

Oxfam Ireland

086 3544954 

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Race to prevent disease as thousands of Rohingya refugees arrive daily in Bangladesh - Oxfam

Posted by: Oxfam Media Team

Aid workers are in a race against time to stop the rapid spread of disease as thousands of Rohingya people continue to arrive in Bangladesh every day. Oxfam warned that an outbreak of cholera would devastate the camps where hundreds of thousands of people are without safe water, shelter or enough food to eat. 

More than 50,000 newly-arrived Rohingya refugees have been hit by diarrhea, pneumonia, skin disease and acute malnutrition as aid agencies struggle to meet the needs of more than half a million people who have arrived from neighbouring Myanmar since August.

Oxfam engineers are working through torrential rain and floods to install water pumps and tanks, latrines and emergency shelters and have so far provided help to 180,000 people in the over-crowded, ill-equipped camps and ad-hoc settlements of Cox's Bazaar. 

Safe water, food and clean toilets are critical to preventing the outbreak of cholera and many other illnesses that have already affected people living in the camps. Currently, the camps are short of 25,000 toilets, increasing the risk of disease.

Enamul Huque, an Oxfam water and sanitation engineer who has worked for more than 25 years building water systems in the world's biggest refugees camps, including Zaatari, Bidi Bidi and Dadaab, says the crisis is one of the fastest population movements he has ever experienced. 

Huque said: “With more than half a million people having arrived in Bangladesh in less than six weeks, we are working as hard as we can to avert a possible cholera outbreak. Providing people here with lifesaving water and sanitation has been a huge challenge, especially along the Naff peninsula where torrential rains have helped to turn the mud tracks over hilly terrain into clay quagmires.” 

One woman who has recently arrived in the camp told Oxfam about her journey: “I came to Bangladesh about a month ago with my family. I walked for nine days to reach the camps. For three weeks I didn't have clean water or soap to have a shower or even to wash my hands. Yesterday, we got a toilet and a tub, and today we got soap and some food. I am happy, for the first time in weeks I can finally wash my clothes."

The latest shipment of aid dispatched from Oxfam's warehouse in the UK has provided 15 tonnes of water pumps, water tanks and material for construction of emergency latrines to provide water to 35,000 more people. A further two shipments planned will help Oxfam to reach 200,000 more refugees.

The total need for clean water each day is 58 million litres. The existing supply in and around the camps is providing less than a litre of water per person per day – insufficient to meet even their basic needs. 

In addition to providing clean, safe water and toilets, Oxfam and its partners have also been distributing emergency food materials including flattened rice, sugar and high-energy biscuits as well as providing hygiene materials like laundry and toilet soap to over 100,000 people.

Oxfam are urgently appealing for people to donate to their Bangladesh Rohingya Crisis appeal: https://www.oxfamireland.org/bangladesh  

ENDS

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Alice Dawson on 00353 (0) 83 198 1869 / alice.dawson@oxfamireland.org

NORTHERN IRELAND: Phillip Graham on 0044 (0) 7841 102535 / phillip.graham@oxfamireland.org

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Oxfam marks 75 years of mobilising against poverty

Posted by: Phillip Graham

Oxfam is marking its 75th anniversary of mobilising against poverty and injustice – including a return to its Greek origins.

Oxfam was set up as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief on 5 October 1942, calling for the Allied blockade in World War II to be relaxed to allow vital food and aid to reach starving people in Greece and elsewhere in Europe.

Since then, Oxfam has played its part in the successes achieved in international development, which have seen half a billion people lifted out of extreme poverty in the last two decades. In last year alone Oxfam helped more than 22 million people worldwide.

Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland’s Chief Executive, said: “Since being established 75 years ago, Oxfam has grown into a global confederation of 20 affiliates, working in over 90 countries across the world to end poverty and suffering. It has been a remarkable three quarters of a century’s worth of work, providing practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive.

“Of course, there have been considerable challenges during that time, due to conflict, violence and natural disaster – challenges which remain to this day. We have responded to numerous humanitarian crises such as famines in East Africa, conflict in Kampuchea, Darfur and Democratic Republic of Congo, the Asian tsunami and recent earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal – to name but a few.

“As well as our emergency responses and long-term development work, we have campaigned to tackle the roots causes of poverty, inequality and injustice, so that the voices of the poor influence the local and global decisions that affect them.

"Sadly Oxfam’s history has come full circle and we are working once again where it all began – in Greece, where thousands of families fleeing violence, persecution and poverty are currently stuck in limbo in makeshift tents. Since October 2015, Oxfam has helped over 100,000 people forced to flee their homes with clean water, sanitation, shelter, food, hygiene kits, and safe spaces for vulnerable women and children.

“Just last week we continued our Greek connection by launching the Museum Without a Home exhibition at the Ulster University in Belfast. The exhibition showcased real items donated by the Greek people to refugees arriving there, demonstrating their solidarity with vulnerable people fleeing their homes in search of safety and dignity.

Oxfam can trace its history in Ireland back to the mid-1950s, with one of the earliest records being an article in the Belfast Telegraph about clothing collections for “famine relief” from May 30th, 1957. In the 1960s support for Oxfam really started to grow across the island of Ireland, especially with the introduction of a chain of shops. Then in 1998 Oxfam Ireland became an independent organisation, affiliated within the wider confederation of Oxfam International.

Clarken added: “Oxfam has been supported by people across the island of Ireland for over 60 years, and people here have made invaluable contributions to our work worldwide, playing a significant role in making Oxfam what it is today. Whether it is by volunteering, donating stock or shopping with us in one of our shops; by signing one of our petitions calling for changes in the rules that keep people poor; helping a street collection for our East Africa famine response; or by undertaking a community event such as the Trailtrekker challenge or organising an Oxjam music event as a fundraiser – our supporters throughout Ireland have helped deliver real change to the lives of people affected by poverty.

“We won’t live with poverty – and it’s clear our staff, volunteers and supporters won’t either. We couldn’t do our vital work without them or the support of the public across Ireland. So on behalf of all those many people whose lives have been saved or improved through our work I would like to say a huge thank you.”

We need your help now more than ever. Oxfam is urgently appealing for people to donate to its Saving Lives fund to support those suffering across the world. Let’s bring hope to even more people. Please give what you can today.

Donate to Oxfam's Emergencies Fund

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Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas without shelter & clean water in flooded camps - Oxfam

Posted by: Oxfam Media Team

27 September 2017

More than 70 per cent of the nearly 480,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh are without adequate shelter and half have no safe drinking water, Oxfam warned today.

Heavy rains and floods in camps have left people facing extreme hardships, and have slowed down the building of emergency shelters, clean water tanks, and the delivery of aid.

Paolo Lubrano, Oxfam Bangladesh’s Humanitarian Co-ordinator, said: “It is truly terrible to see the level of need there is among people here. People are living in make shift tents under heavy rains. Tens of thousands don’t have food or clean water. If they are very lucky they have some plastic sheeting to take shelter under – but most of the time families are huddled under sarongs. These people urgently need help.

“Most camps are flooded, including Katupalong and Balukhali where Oxfam works. For people forced to flee this is absolutely devastating – they have crossed one torrential river, just to be confronted by insecurity and pouring rain.

“Women and children are particularly vulnerable, sleeping under open skies, roadsides, and forest areas with little or no protection.”

A humanitarian flight carrying 15 tons of supplies left Oxfam’s warehouse on Friday. Materials include water pumps, material for construction of emergency latrines and water tanks. Two more humanitarian flights are planned with additional supplies.

Since August 25, nearly 480,000 Rohingya people have crossed over to Bangladesh’s South-Eastern districts resulting in a massive humanitarian crisis. Of these it is estimated that over 340,000 have inadequate shelter and about 240,000 have no clean water.

Oxfam’s response has reached nearly 100,000 people with clean drinking water, emergency toilets, water pumps and food rations. Oxfam is planning to help more than 200,000 people during the first phase of its response. Oxfam is also supporting the government and humanitarian partners to ensure camps newly established will meet the necessary humanitarian standards.

Due to the volatile and chaotic situation, Oxfam is concerned about abuse and exploitation of women and girls. Privacy, health, and hygiene for women, girls and nursing mothers are compromised, and measures must be taken to prevent any form of sexual violence.

Oxfam is urgently appealing for people to donate to its Saving Lives fund to support those suffering in Bangladesh and across the world https://www.oxfamireland.org/24/7-saving-lives

Spokespersons available

ENDS

Daniel English, Oxfam Ireland, 086 3544954

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