1 of 2. Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) prepare to bring food to patients kept in an isolation area at the MSF Ebola treatment centre in Kailahun July 20, 2014.
In a statement released today, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that West Africa's Ebola epidemic is an "extraordinary event" and now constitutes an international health risk.
"A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola," the WHO said in a statement after a two-day meeting of its emergency committee on Ebola.
MSF reaction to WHO Ebola statement
In response, Dr Bart Janssens, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Director of Operations said:
“Declaring Ebola an international public health emergency shows how seriously WHO is taking the current outbreak but statements won’t save lives
“Now we need this statement to translate into immediate action on the ground. For weeks, MSF has been repeating that a massive medical, epidemiological and public health response is desperately needed to saves lives and reverse the course of the epidemic.
“Lives are being lost because the response is too slow.
Nepal is among one of the least developed countries that has been exposed to multiple hazards and with one-third of its population living below the poverty line. Not only socio-economic factors, but also geological, topographical and climatic conditions expose Nepal to multiple hazards, most prominently earthquakes, floods, landslides, fires, thunderbolts, windstorms, hailstorm and avalanches. According to official disaster statistics, out of the total number of affected families, floods/landslides and wind-storms/hailstorms have affected the most damage followed by fires and epidemics.
It was humid, muddy and raining when WHO staff approached a compound in heavily populated New Kru Town, outside Monrovia, Liberia to look for people who have had contact with people infected with Ebola. A WHO technical adviser from Rwanda, sent in to help the zone coordinator, spoke to a woman who had cared for an Ebola patient. She understood the need to be monitored for the disease, but another man with whom the team talked denied knowing anyone with Ebola and refused further contact with the team.
Image: The UAV Map, which will go live shortly, is inspired by Travel by Drone Map displayed above.
irevolution.net - June 18th, 2014 - Patrick Meier
Journalists and citizen journalists are already using small UAVs during disasters. And some are also posting their aerial videos online: Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), Moore Tornado, Arkansas Tornado and recent floods in Florida, for example. Like social media, this new medium—user-generated (aerial) content—can be used by humanitarian organizations to augment their damage assessments and situational awareness.
When a team from Tulane University sent a batch of protective clothing and equipment to help workers fighting an outbreak of Ebola virus in Sierra Leone last month, they were fairly confident the 300 or so packs would be enough for a good start.
They couldn’t have predicted what they would be up against.
MSU student-athletes set up a tornado relief shelter on Tuesday. (PHOTO CREDIT: Megan Bean)
hailstate.com - April 30, 2014
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A day after destructive tornadoes swept through the state of Mississippi, Mississippi State student-athletes from all sports responded as volunteers in the relief efforts.
MSU student-athletes, graduate assistants, athletic department staff, weight room staff and equipment staff quickly set up a tornado relief center and shelter in the parking lot of the Palmeiro Center on the MSU campus. The relief center is being coordinated by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies
The World Disasters Report 2013 examines the profound impact of technological innovations on humanitarian action, how humanitarians employ technology in new and creative ways, and what risks and opportunities may emerge as a result of technological innovations.
The responsible use of technology offers concrete ways to make humanitarian assistance more effective, efficient and accountable and can, in turn, directly reduce vulnerability and strengthen resilience. Finding ways for advances in technology to serve the most vulnerable is a moral imperative; a responsibility, not a choice.
Published annually since 1993, the World Disasters Report brings together the latest trends, facts and analysis of contemporary catastrophes and their effect on vulnerable populations worldwide. Initiated by the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, it convenes eminent researchers, authors and development and humanitarian aid practitioners to highlight contemporary issues on a yearly basis.
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