Jordan was accepting thousands of Iraqi refugees, expediting their arrival with special visas. But the country is struggling under the enormous burden of more than a million and a half Syrian refugees and has little to no resources for newcomers.
“It would have taken longer to get back on our feet without Caritas. Things are good now. We have schools, hospitals and homes. The cooperative is going well and we have been able to improve the boats,” he said.
On 26 December 2004, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that devastated India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Aceh. Over a quarter of a million people were killed and 1.5 million made homeless.
One positive result of the tsunami is that our Caritas national organisations and their ties with communities are strengthened. They’ve been able to use that strength as a gateway for other integral human development efforts.
In addition to providing health care for other illnesses and establishing strict infection control procedures and screening areas in order to prevent transmission of the virus in the health care setting, the Church has mobilized a community response and community education in order to engage clergy and local parish groups in efforts to stop the spread of the Ebola virus.
Children whose parents have died; children who have recovered from the virus themselves; children whose families and sense of security have been shattered by the emotional and economic toll of the disease—huge numbers of children in West Africa have been affected by Ebola over the past terrifying months.
Filipinos are breathing a sigh of relief after Typhoon Hagupit, known locally as Ruby, passed over their islands without causing major damage. Caritas has been giving out food and other emergency supplies.
Thanks to a Caritas project to reduce the effects of disasters, residents armed themselves with large containers of water, spades and anything else they could get their hands on to fight the spread of the fire.