Oxfam works with local committees in Haiti to reduce risks in response to increasing natural disasters.
Right to Survive (slideshow)
In six years time the number of people affected by climatic crises is projected to rise by 54 per cent to 375 million people, threatening to overwhelm the humanitarian aid system.
The projected rise is due to a combination of entrenched poverty and people migrating to densely populated slums which are prone to the increasing number of climatic events. This is compounded by the political failure to address these risks and a humanitarian system which is not fit for purpose.
Our report 'The Right to Survive' explains how the world needs to re-engineer the way it responds to, prepares for and prevents disasters. These photos show why.
Sidadhaya Moidi clearing weed from a millet field following an Oxfam sponsored seed fair in Kassambere village, Borem District, Mali. Rebellion, inter-community conflicts, and years of drought have seriously affected the living conditions of communities in the area.
Rabeya creates a mud bank in front of her house as a protection against flood water in Bogra, Bangladesh. Rabeya has experienced flooding many times, but says that the floods of 2007 were extreme.
Credit: Sven Torfinn/PANOSSudan Liberation Army (SLA) soldiers cruising through an IDP (internally displaced people) camp in a modified Toyota pick-up, also known as a technical or battlewagon. Abu el Gasim, an SLA rebel commander, is currently controlling Gereida town, which is surrounded by nomads and Arab militias, with a couple of dozen rebel soldiers.
The Civil Protection Committee of Borgne runs through a training exercise to learn how to save lives in a flood. Oxfam works with local committees in the north of Haiti to reduce risks in response to increasing natural disasters.
Credit: Jim Holmes/OxfamCash for work at Rundeng close to Meulaboh, in Indonesia - the team is building a new road into a swamp area that will be drained so that houses can be constructed on it. The project involves creating a short connecting road between two main roads. Oxfam provided cash, tools, gravel, rubble, sand. Chunks of concrete being used in the road bed are from tsunami rubble. People will put houses up along the road. 100 people per day are working on this project, which was chosen by community members.
Cash being counted. An important part of accountability & transparency. The cash being handed over to the partner, who will be responsible for the distribution, is counted out in front of the community.
A child leans against a flood meter in northeastern Nicaragua. The Miskitos indigenous people of Central America have been living and farming according to natural rhythms for centuries. But now traditional signs found in nature – white cranes, flowering avocado plants, silver fish and flashes of lightning – are no longer heralding the rains.
View of the camp where Oxfam is providing latrines, and water to over 100 families. Chattarkalas is a 45 minute drive from Muzaffarabad.