When Disaster Strikes

Hear an epic tale of survival as one of the Caribbean’s strongest hurricanes strikes The Bahamas. The government and international aid workers battle to meet the survivors’ basic needs in the chaos of the aftermath.

For some communities in the Bahamas, fishing is the primary source of income. Now that Dorian has damaged their boats, fishers are left unable to ply their trade. A local fisherman, Joseph Thomas, leads a project that will help those who rely on fishing to rebuild their lives. Over $10,000-worth of materials have been donated by an international NGO so that Joseph and his team can repair boats.

Duane Sands, the Minister for Health, explains that since it was struck by Dorian, the island of Grand Bahama has had to rely on a mobile, inflatable hospital complex, flown in by a US-based organization called Samaritan’s Purse. It has been set up next to the damaged hospital that used to serve Grand Bahama’s main town.

On Abaco, one of the islands worst-affected by Hurricane Dorian, Juliet Deal from the UNDP heads up cash-for-work schemes so that local people who have lost their jobs can be paid to rehabilitate schools and infrastructure. This helps get the economy up-and-running, both by injecting income and, in the long term, by allowing children to return to school and families to return home.

Duane Sands, the Bahamian Minister for Health, explains how the hurricane could produce health hazards long after it's passed. Its floodwater provides breeding grounds for mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases. Sam McKeever, an expert from the Pan American Health Organization, and her team check their traps every day to judge the potential for an outbreak of dengue, malaria and other diseases.

Part of a medical team from the Somali Red Crescent Society, Kaltun and Faisal run a mobile clinic for the children of a remote Somaliland community. Mothers bring their infants to be checked for malnutrition, but in some cases Kaltun and Faisal’s help isn't enough. When a child is severely malnourished, they need more than the normal food-based treatment and have to be transported far from home.

People displaced by the drought arrive at a camp in Southern Somaliland, where they are processed and provided with basic aid items. As the UNHCR’s Sarah Khan points out, this isn’t a long-term solution. Laura Hammond, an academic and expert on this region, explains that there is more to be done to prevent these displacements from happening in the first place.

Hear shocking stories as another drought strikes Somalia. Mass migration, food shortages and malnutrition mean famine is a very real threat, but resolute humanitarians race to meet the basic needs of the most vulnerable.

Cyclone Idai destroyed an entire shantytown in Beira, Mozambique. One of its former residents, Dino, witnessed his home being flooded. Swimming was the only way to escape. His wife, Marta, is now at a government-run evacuation center in the city because he and his family have nowhere else to live and no way of earning a living.

In an NGO-run temporary camp for those displaced by Cyclone Idai, health workers, including Julia Mutondo, try to prevent a malaria outbreak. Abby Weems of Team Rubicon USA is working with Julia at a healthcare center in one of these camps, tending to those in need. For Mozambicans like Julia, treating members of her community after a disaster like Cyclone Idai can be an emotional experience.

Huge crowds attending a distribution event in an area that was under water just a few days previously all need help rebuilding their homes and lives. Veteran humanitarian responders Jamie LeSueur of the IFRC and Sebastian Rhodes-Stampa of UNOCHA look on impressed as local members of the Red Cross distribute aid items to those made homeless by Cyclone Idai.

See the mechanics of disaster relief from the heroes responding on the ground. Government leaders, humanitarians and survivors tell their extraordinary personal stories of determination and hope.