Humanitarian Aid

UN News Centre/A Runa

Outer space is driver for disaster risk management, sustainable development – UN expert

22 November 2016

Space applications related to telecommunications and global navigation can play a vital role in supporting disaster risk reduction, response and recovery efforts, a senior United Nations official said today at the UN forum on space as a socio-economic driver for sustainable development under way in Dubai.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

UN chief highlights importance of preparedness to reduce tsunami risks

5 November 2016
Global

In his message marking the first World Tsunami Awareness Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of reducing current and future levels of risk, particularly through strengthening preparedness.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Western Saharan refugees face looming food shortage, UN agencies warn in appeal for donor support

2 November 2016
Africa

Three United Nations agencies operating in Algeria appealed today for continued donor support for refugees from Western Sahara, warning that insufficient funding makes imminent a cut in basic food rations.

On International Day, UN urges building disaster resilience by reducing 'appalling' loss of life

13 October 2016
Global

Over the past twenty years, 90 per cent of the 1.35 million people who have died in 7,056 disaster events have come from low and middle-income countries, according to a new United Nations report released today described by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as a “damning indictment of inequality.”

Photo Feature: UN family responds to humanitarian plight in wake of Haiti’s Hurricane Matthew

12 October 2016
Americas

On Tuesday 4 October, 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti. While the capital, Port au Prince, was mostly spared from the full strength of the Category 4 hurricane, the western cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie suffered the full force – sustaining heavy rains, winds and water damage across wide areas.

UNICEF

Sanitation initiative in south-eastern Haiti shows promising results – UNICEF

22 September 2016
Americas

A sanitation initiative in south-eastern Haiti has shown encouraging results, with a major reduction in the number of water-borne infections for local residents, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

OCHA/Iason Athanasiadis

Agenda for Humanity: five key actions the world needs

21 March 2016
Global

Not since the Second World War have global humanitarian needs been so high. From the crisis in Syria and the drought in Ethiopia, to the conflict in Sudan and the violence in the Lake Chad Basin, more than 125 million people around the world whose lives have been devastated by conflict and disaster desperately need humanitarian aid and protection.