Crisis watch

Yemen

The food crisis in Yemen has led the UN to warn that ‘Time is running out’ to head off devastating famine. Wazeerah Omar, aged 38, who lives with her four sisters, an aunt and her grandmother in the capital Sana’a after fleeing from “the vicious never-ending conflict” in Taiz, told us:

I used to be the bread-winner for my family as a worker in a plastics factory.

Today I have lost all sources of income and cannot even secure a day’s bread for my family. As a family of seven led by me, we are fully dependent on the support we receive from aid organisations to keep us from starving to death. 

I keep on praying that God blesses us all with health because if any of us fell ill we cannot afford the least kind of medical care. I pray with all my heart that I can soon go back home and make my own income and live in dignity with my family.

See how the food crisis has affected people's ability to feed themselves and their families in this infographic:

Venezuela refugee crisis

The scarcity of food, incomes and livelihoods in Venezuela has forced more than 2 million Venezuelans to flee the country. Alex Moncada, country director at CARE Ecuador, said:

The crisis in Venezuela will continue to cause the large-scale migration we are witnessing right now. Venezuelans forced by hunger, violence and lack of opportunities for a dignified life face stigma and discrimination in countries where local communities are also living on the threshold of poverty.

• Read the words of people affected by this crisis and find out how CARE is helping in this article by Paddy Dowling on The Independent website, Venezuela’s Refugee Crisis: why don’t we care?

Ethiopia

Nearly 8 million people in Ethiopia are affected by two types of crisis: a slow onset food security crisis, exacerbated by two years of consecutive droughts and lack of recovery; rapid-onset emergencies induced by diseases, floods, and conflict (over a million people have been displaced by recent conflicts in Gedeo and West Guji region in southern Ethiopia, and violence in the Oromia-Somali border region).

Since July, CARE has launched seven new emergency response initiatives, with water/sanitation/hygiene (WASH), shelter and nutrition projects in SNNP, Afar and Oromia regions. So far, CARE Ethiopia has reached 471,000 people with humanitarian assistance.

South Sudan

South Sudan continues to face the highest levels of humanitarian crisis ever experienced in the country, with virtually every community in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. At the peak of the lean season (July-August), 6.1 million people faced severe food insecurity. CARE's current emergency responses include:

• emergency cash-based interventions
• provision of small livestock to vulnerable internally displaced people and host communities
• distribution of seeds and fishing kits
• nutrition services to malnourished children and pregnant and lactating women
• provision of Primary and Secondary Health Services in Unity State (Pariang County)
• mobile GBV protection programmes, including a newly-launched mobile health, nutrition and GBV programme in Eastern Equatoria.

Indonesia tsunami response

The latest figures indicate that more than 2,000 people are confirmed dead, hundreds are still missing, and an estimated 82,775 people are displaced and staying in over 147 temporary sites. Thousands of schools and health facilities have been damaged, in addition to water supply systems.

Of the total 65,000 houses damaged, an estimated 10,000 households have been completely destroyed, with all the households’ belongings lost, resulting in acute, immediate shelter and non-food items (clothing, cooking equipment, etc) needs.

Wahyu Widayanto, our Emergency Response Coordinator, participated in a joint assessment in Donggala which was completed on 8 October; the data is being analysed. CARE has also finalised a rapid gender analysis to assess the specific needs of women, girls, men and boys.

Our emergency team in Makassar team has procured and packaged 1,000 hygiene kits; transport and distribution of these will begin on Friday 12 October 2018.