7 Humanitarian Crises You Shouldn't Forget

It's been three weeks since the disastrous 7.0 earthquake leveled much of Haiti. Despite hundreds of millions in donations, Haiti is already beginning to fade from our minds, much like some other very recent and very serious world crises. We've compiled a list of seven of the more overlooked situations of the last several years, with ways you can still help.

Note: Hurricane Katrina has been intentionally left off this list. Though much of Louisiana and Mississippi are still in dire need of assistance, Impact thought it prudent to point out some of the more distant of recent disasters.

• • • • • • • Though Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war ended in May of last year, more than 300,000 have been displaced and humanitarian aid is still needed. Supporting Direct Relief International can bring needed supplies and medical care to those who could not otherwise afford it.

Comments

[MMIIXX]

12:44 PM on 02/02/2010

Don't forget Gaza. The people of Gaza are suffering under the fanatical, racist and violent Israeli regime, which devotes itself to the destruction of Palestinian people and the stealing of the Palestinian homeland. Israel misuses any aid and material received from America to further their expansionist ambitions, rather than tackle the problems of social and economic development for the good of the region. The world needs to act to persuade Israel--one way or another--to make genuine peace with the Palestinians and work for the actual good of all, or else get out of the way. And to open its nuclear sites for International inspection.

[RichardWalden]

10:18 AM on 02/02/2010

Operation USA (www.opusa.org) works on all 7 crises PLUS Hurricane Katrina and throughout the State of California in support of over 200 nonprofit community clinics serving California's 8 million medically uninsured. In this day and age, relief agencies whose skills were honed by global action need to share those skills and their organizational focus with our own people as well as with the rest of the woirld. That 90% of the major int'l relief agencies rely on US Government foreign aid funding means that they have to re-tool and look for domestic government programs whose ranks could use their skills.

Operation USA is 100% privately funded and can go where there is a need for support although from its own very modest sized base.

[rushour2]

09:55 AM on 02/02/2010

Don't forget the poor people in the USA.

[rushour2]

10:40 AM on 02/02/2010

They lost their 500 000 dollars homes, they can't pay their cars, can't afford gifts this holidays, can't pay their 10 000 CC balances, Don't have a job, the kids can't eat healthy.

This are the poor people in the USA. Don't forget them.


"We are the world, we are the children..."

[mustangsx3]

11:30 AM on 02/02/2010

How completely ignorant are you? 1 in 50 kids are homeless in the USA and 1 in 6 children go to bed hungry, they are poor and unable to afford adequate food and nutrition. 16% of Americans fall below the poverty line. These numbers are growing every day with unemployment growing. Wake up!

[ZenJu]

08:43 AM on 02/02/2010

Don't forget Gaza. The people of Gaza are suffering under the fanatical, racist and violent Hamas regime, which devotes itself to the destruction of Israel and the enslavement of the region to its brand of militant fundamentalist Islam. Hamas misuses any aid and material received by Gaza to further its jihadist ambitions, rather than tackle the problems of social and economic development for the good of the Gazans. The world needs to act to persuade Hamas--one way or another--to make genuine peace with Israel and work for the actual good of Gaza, or else get out of the way.

[chonus]

10:24 AM on 02/02/2010

So very misleading...

[drjasonmd]

07:56 PM on 02/02/2010

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the reason Hamas won the last Palestinian election so handedly because they were the only organization that could be trusted to actually use public funds to provide services to the Palestinian community? Hamas is a lot of things, but corrupt is not one of them.

And if Hamas was so bad, why did Israel spend so much money to prop them up and help them grow in the 80s? There would be no Hamas without Israel's support back when it was in the cradle.

Oh yeah, they were trying to undermind Arafat. Blowback is a mother, aint it?

[ZenJu]

07:29 AM on 02/03/2010

Gotta agree with you on that last point. Israel's government is paying the price of bad strategy....just as when the US was arming and training al-Qaeda in the 80s. Blowback is indeed a mother. It's just too bad that Jordan didn't agree to take the West Bank into its governance in the 80s, rather than cutting all claims. A united Jordan/West Bank/Gaza could have developed into a representative government for the Palestinians (who comprise over 65% of Jordan's population alone), and there would be peace and prosperity. Instead, Israel and Jordan were both short-sighted.