Essay: Crowdfunding disaster relief offers hope in desperate times. But who gets left behind?
As parts of the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland face devastating floods, MATTHEW WADE, a lecturer in social inquiry at La Trobe University in Victoria, looks – in an article published on The Conversation – at the rise of crowdfunding campaigns in response…
As Hurricane Laura hits, US faith-based disaster relief groups ready to lend a hand
RNS In recent months, Lara Martin’s life has been one disaster after another. Tornadoes in Tennessee. Wildfires in California. A derecho in Iowa. Now, Hurricane Laura. “We’ve been busy,” said Martin, the interim director of US disaster response for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, better known as UMCOR. Buildings and homes are flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane […]
Faith groups gear up disaster relief after deadly tornadoes in US state of Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee, USRNS Faith-based disaster groups are gearing up to provide assistance after overnight tornadoes killed at least 21 people across four counties in Tennessee. A state of emergency was declared Tuesday morning, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. “Please keep the great people of Tennessee in your hearts, thoughts and prayers,” the agency posted on its Facebook page. “Strong […]
Saving Indonesians from climate disasters, one social media post at a time
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Can bots save lives? An Indonesian architect who harnesses social media to improve disaster relief – a project that on Friday could win a $US250,000 international award – believes so. Twenty-eight-year-old Nashin Mahtani’s website, PetaBencana.id, uses artificial intelligence and internet bots to monitor posts on social media by communities hit […]
In northern California, churches step up to shelter fire evacuees
RNS Around 4:45am on Sunday, staffers at CrossWalk Community Church in Napa got a call, alerting them the church would need to serve as an evacuation centre as the Kincade fire continued to spread in Northern California. By 6am, the church doors were open. A firefighter from San Matteo helps fight the Kincade fire in Sonoma […]
As risks rise, too little is spent to avert disasters, say UN and Red Cross
Geneva, SwitzerlandThomson Reuters Foundation Governments and businesses are still investing far too little to protect poor communities at rising risk from wild weather and other threats, the heads of the UN disaster prevention agency and the Red Cross said Tuesday. Countries are having to dig deep to bail out crisis-hit communities – as happened after […]
In the US, faith-based disaster relief teams on standby as Florence nears
RNS On top of all the state and federal disaster relief groups readying for Hurricane Florence as it barrels toward North and South Carolina are a group of expert helpers: the faith teams. The biggest of these, North Carolina Baptists on Mission and the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, have made a name for themselves […]
FIJI: FOR UPROOTED SURVIVORS OF A DEADLY CYCLONE, MENTAL SCARS LINGER
LAURIE GOERING, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on who Fijians are coping in the aftermath of Cyclone Winston – the first Category 5 storm to hit the South Pacific – which devastated parts of the island nation in 2016…