Service Projects

In the past ten years, 83% of all disasters triggered by natural hazards were caused by extreme climate-related events, including droughts, floods and cyclones that directly affected 1.7 billion people, and more than 410,000 people were killed. At the same time, secondary threats such as food shortage, disease outbreaks, and disrupted livelihood should not be underestimated.

Typhoon Rai made landfall at the Phillippines in December 2021 and was the strongest storm of the year. More than 11.8 million people were affected and more than 2 million homes were destroyed or damaged, including Arthur’s, which was built with his retirement pay and by selling family inheritance. "I cried when I saw what is left of our house. My family wonders if we can have a house again. Right now, we are living with a friend, with his family. We merged all the scraps from our torn houses to form a house which we are sharing now." Arthur tried to apply for jobs, but no company hired him due to his age. Each month, Arthur and his wife get P1000 (about HK$137) from their social pension, which is all they have to sustain their family.

The International Red Cross provided multi-purpose cash grants to help affected families buy what they need, from shelter materials to food supplies and books for their children. Arthur’s family received P5,000 (about HK$ 686) of multi-purpose cash grant, which he spent on buying food supplies to get through the coming months and construction materials to start rebuilding his home.

The International Red Cross strives for providing support to families like Teresa's who are affected by climate-related disasters. The relief response covers different aspects of the family’s life, including:

• Emergency Shelter: Providing materials such as tarpaulin and building toolkits for people to repair their damaged house. Temporary accommodation sites to give displaced people a safe shelter.
• Food: Provision of food parcels or food vouchers, kitchen sets, clean drinking water.
• Livelihood: Providing cash assistance, seeds, tools and trainings for affected population to resume livelihood activities.
• WASH: Distributing hygiene parcels with personal hygiene items such as soaps, toothpaste and toothbrush. Buckets for storing clean water. Building and repairing WASH facilities such as toilets and waterpoints.
• Health: First-aid service, PSS, setting up mobile clinics to provide basic medical services.

Many of those affected by climate-related disasters, have critical needs, ranging from emergency shelter, food and nutrition support, health and psychosocial support, fresh water and sanitation to longer term support, for example recovery and building resilience to further disasters. Multiplied by the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, these needs are becoming more and more pressing.

To assist the affected population and build the resilience of those in the most vulnerable situation, the Hong Kong Red Cross has been providing emergency assistance and supporting disaster preparedness for climate-related emergencies around the globe. Please donate and bring hope to the vulnerable groups.