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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.

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.

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.  

Elmita Nodeis sits on the ground in the courtyard of Philippe Guerrier school in the town of Les Cayes in Haiti. The school's been turned into an evacuation centre since Hurricane Matthew hit, and she's been sleeping there with eight members of her family ever since.  The 51-year-old has a few buckets in front of her, and she's busy scrubbing clothes. 

While the damage from a Category 4 hurricane like Matthew can be severe no matter where it hits, some countries are more vulnerable than others to the impacts of storms. One of the countries hit hard by Matthew is Haiti – and at this time the extent of the damage is not fully known. 

Glass and debris flew through the air as a tornado tore the roof from a section of the home that Arnold Brown rented with a friend in LaSalle, Ontario. Now, more than a month later, the 60-year-old is still trying to put the pieces of his life back together after it was quite literally torn apart.

Having reliable, practical and up-to-date information can make all the difference for refugees and migrants as they are making their way and transiting through Europe, a journey that is often fraught with peril.
That’s why the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) with the help of IBM recently designed and launched an online tool called Virtual Volunteer.