emergency response

October 13, 2019

Tackling the mental health crisis during a disaster

Bangladesh is the eighth worst affected country in the world in terms of natural disasters. Between 2008 and 2017, approximately 37 million people were affected.
June 6, 2018

9 ways we are keeping people in Cox’s Bazar safe in monsoon

Monsoon has hit the biggest makeshift city in the world.
March 22, 2018

Localisation of humanitarian response: A proven frontier for BRAC

Let us take the recent Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh- dubbed as the world’s fastest growing humanitarian crisis- as a case to see why and how BRAC can be a model for the localisation in humanitarian response.
February 13, 2018

Clowns visit the Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar

BRAC recently partnered with Clowns Without Borders UK, a charity that aims to share laughter with children in crisis. A team from the charity visited Cox's Bazar to spread a little cheer among the Rohingya children. The playful performances recognised that despite the trauma or difficulties they may have witnessed, children have the right to play, have fun and heal.
February 7, 2018

Reclaiming tomorrow

Only love can overcome hate, only compassion and empathy can overcome inhumanity, only the giving of respect can restore dignity.
January 25, 2018

Five lessons from five months of responding to the Rohingya crisis

It is five months today since 688,000 forcibly displaced Rohingyas migrated to Bangladesh from Myanmar. BRAC has been on the ground delivering humanitarian support from two weeks after the influx began. To date, we have reached over 620,000 Rohingyas with critical services, making up the largest civil society response to the crisis.
December 18, 2017

The uncertain future of the Rohingya children

People stretched as far as I could see. Young, old and every age in between, all standing in lines for hours to receive food.  What most shocked me was the number of children. There were just so many of them. So many hungry eyes.
December 18, 2017

A crisis within a crisis: Tackling a diphtheria outbreak in the Rohingya makeshift settlements

A diphtheria outbreak in the Rohingya makeshift settlements has killed 20 people as of December 17, 2017. With 1,500 suspected cases, the number is growing. The 656,000 Rohingya people who sleep every night without electricity, dream in the colours of recent trauma and wake up to uncertainty, cannot afford to be hurt further.
November 26, 2017

What do safe spaces in a humanitarian crisis look like?

Deep inside the chaotic makeshift settlements of Kutupalong, Cox’s Bazar, is a spacious, shaded, colourful place. A bamboo structure with handmade decorations hanging from the walls. Curious onlookers gather outside the thatched windows, attracted by the rhythm.
October 5, 2017

A Bangladeshi NGO’s herculean response to a humanitarian crisis

When a humanitarian crisis of this scale hits, it can be easy to overlook the local players — especially as large, international aid groups step in to respond
November 3, 2015

BRAC chronicles: from Kabul to Kathmandu

A young woman in her mid 20s is shoveling debris of a completely ruined house, as her mother looks on. The older woman spots the camera and says, “Look they are taking your picture, smile!”  Prior to the earthquake, the family of six used to live in a two-storied house. Now the parents along with the daughter live in a dome-shaped temporary shelter built of CGI sheet, while the son lives with a cousin. The father is a sculptor at a local shop and the mother works in a small farm they own. “We are alive and safe, but our house is gone,” says the mother.
October 14, 2014

BRAC at the forefront of disaster risk reduction

Shukla Pal is one of many shasthya kormis (health workers) of BRAC who received organisational training to serve her community against the risks of natural disaster.  A head of the household, a mother and a grandmother, almost 60 years of age, she knows the importance of standard first aid practices required to attend casualties amongst her fellow villagers.