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Micheline Lagrenade has been volunteering at the Haitian Red Cross branch in the town of Jeremie for the past 24 years. Micheline is a single mother of four who up until recently was living in a house in a coastal neighbourhood of Jeremie. Her home was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew, and she’s been staying with her four children at a friend’s house.

The Red Cross blanket hanging on the wall of Jason Grant’s new home is a reminder of the help he received when a fire forced him out of his previous home. In May, a fire damaged his central Winnipeg apartment building and he was forced to leave his home. “Basically, I had nowhere to stay,” said Grant.

It has been one year since we began welcoming Syrian refugees to help them build new, more stable lives in Canada. With your help, the Canadian Red Cross was able to partner with organizations that support refugees across the country, such as the Immigrant Community Support Centre in Montreal, to help Syrian families settle and integrate into their new community. 

A house fire is difficult for anyone, but for the Bilal family it was especially traumatizing as they had only been in Canada a few months. Mohammad, Afraa, their two children, Naya and Nael, and Mohammad’s brother, Ali, arrived in Canada in February as refugees, after fleeing the war in Syria.
In July, a fire broke out in the family’s home. Fortunately, no one was injured, but most of what little they did have was destroyed.

Since Hurricane Matthew hit the southwest of Haiti, not much remains of the crops that provided livelihoods for people living in the countryside. The hurricane hit during the second main harvest season, so it will take many months for crops to grow back enough to be eaten.

Infections from injuries sustained in the hurricane aren’t the only health concern Haiti is facing. Cholera cases are on the rise, although there is currently no testing being done to confirm cases, making this challenging to quantify.

The Canadian Red Cross is deploying its Emergency Health Clinic and a team of nine aid workers to Haiti jointly with the French Red Cross in collaboration with the Haitian Red Cross and the Haitian Ministry of Health. 

This year’s World Disasters Report, released by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) examines the importance of building resilience in order to meet the growing needs for humanitarian action around the world.