emergency aid

The World Humanitarian Day – which began 19 August 2003 – is a day to commemorate all the lives and efforts of Oxfam staff and partners working on the frontlines amidst ever more complex and difficult environments.

In 2011, Somalia experienced a devastating famine that killed over a quarter of a million people – half of them children under the age of five. The international community failed to act in time, despite repeated warnings of an impending crisis. Yet, just over a decade later, and despite various alarms over the past two years, world leaders are once again responding too late and with too little to avert catastrophic hunger in East Africa.

Over a decade since Somalia experienced a devastating famine that killed over a quarter of a million people, another famine is looming in East Africa. Despite various warnings and alarms over the past two years, we are once again responding too late and with too little to avert the crisis. The humanitarian system must evolve in order to enable and fully fund anticipatory action.

The emergency system for distributing clean water in Palu is under strain as thousands of people spend an eleventh night sleeping outdoors.

On 21 April, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Ya’an, Sichuan has left 186 people dead, 21 missing and 11,393 injured, 968 of them seriously. Oxfam has begun distributing emergency relief supplies.