Access to clean water was a challenge for Ambae residents evacuated to Santo in 2018 as a result of ongoing volcanic activity.

Children’s Learning Centres funded through the Australian Humanitarian Response to support the Rohingya in Bangladesh allow children to continue a form of learning.

Following an earthquake in the Papua New Guinea Highlands in 2018, CARE Australia used a roving cinema to share information, with the added benefit of some entertainment for those who were displaced, and the communities hosting the displaced.

Disaster READY PNG supported the Autonomous Region of Bougainville to provide humanitarian assistance following the deliberate destruction of homes on Sohano Island in March 2019. While small in scale, the Sohano Island response highlighted valuable lessons that have been incorporated into Disaster READY’s ongoing work in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

As part of the Australian Humanitarian Partnership’s humanitarian assistance in response to Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, World Vision Australia in partnership with World Vision Mozambique, focused on supporting WASH, education and child protection. Here we discuss the challenges surrounding child protection and the steps taken to support children in the recovery process.

Disaster READY: The experience of the Ambae volcano response in Vanuatu, as well as a tsunami alert and a tropical cyclone in the past year, showcases how disaster preparedness requires active management and adaption – before, during and after a disaster.

Plan International and ChildFund, in partnership with local NGO, Fraterna, are implementing Disaster Ready activities at the village level in Lautem Municipality in Timor-Leste. The involvement of people with disabilities has been central to ensuring more inclusive disaster preparedness strategies are in place.

Tropical Cyclone Gita (TC Gita) struck Tonga on 12 February 2018, affecting an estimated 80,000 men, women, boys and girls (about 70 per cent of the entire population). Many people lost their homes and required emergency shelter. AHP partner CARE Australia worked with local partners to provide emergency shelter and then transition communities into stronger housing options.

Women Friendly Spaces can provide women with much needed respite and support in humanitarian situations. However, community attitudes and suspicion must be sometimes overcome before some women can safely join.

In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, CARE has been working to overcome some of these barriers for Rohingya refugees, ensuring the women have somewhere to gather, seek information and find refuge among each other. 

Between March 2017 and Oct 2017, AHP partner World Vision Australia supported communities affected by famine and conflict in South Sudan with humanitarian assistance and livelihoods support - working to build resilience, income and food security.

Women and girls face unique challenges following a disaster. An Indonesian volunteer shares her observations following the 2018 earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi.

When Tropical Cyclone Gita hit Tonga in 2018, three organisations came together to get emergency assistance to the nation’s most vulnerable.

Disaster READY partners in the Solomon Islands are looking to improve gender and social inclusion capacity within their own organisations so that that they can better support the local organisations and communities they are working with.  

Disaster READY PNG partner ChildFund, through the Plan International consortium, supported the Central Province Government to develop an Emergency Contingency Plan to better prepare for future disasters.

With support from Disaster READY, a Suco (village) Disaster Management Committee is revitalised with diverse and inclusive representation.

The CAN DO network shares the important role played by Papua New Guinea churches is response to the 2018 Highlands Earthquake. With a presence in many of the affected communities, the churches came together and played a critical and central role in the earthquake response efforts - demonstrating the importance and value of localised humanitarian responses.

Disaster READY Vanuatu spent 2018, the program’s foundation year, forming and cementing partnerships across the nation. Read about their progress here, including how a multi-stakeholder tsunami drill was soon put into action.

Timor-Leste is prone to severe droughts, posing health, food security and livelihood risks to much of the population. AHP’s Timor-Leste Disaster READY program works with communities, government and other relevant stakeholders to prepare for drought.

The Fiji Disaster READY consortia found themselves responding to two consecutive tropical cyclones in the early stages of the Disaster READY program. They rallied together to coordinate their response, while also successfully securing funding from the START network.

Ensuring women can maintain their mobility, dignity and menstrual health is a key focus of this AHP-supported response for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.