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A woman wrapped in pagne cloth sits with a child on a mat
A woman spoon-feeds her child
A refugee receives an IRC emergency kit for women
A woman signs for a kit using ink and her fingertips
Smiling in her thatched shelter, a woman holds up her kit
Two women carry emergency kits distributed by the IRC
A woman holds a flashlight from her new emergency kit

Emergency kits for women

D.R. Congo
02.27.2013

Tens of thousands of women and girls have been forced to flee fighting in North Kivu, Congo, during the past few months — often without time to pack any personal belongings. They shelter in precarious conditions in camps with almost no privacy.

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The IRC supports refugees fleeing from violence in Syria with emergency aid
Syrian children have missed years of school, have suffered severe trauma
Women line up to receive emergency aid of warm blankets; Camps are cold, crowded
Ahmed Dahoud El-Masri, injured in the Syrian crisis, recovers on a hospital cot
Refugee barber cuts a client's hair in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan
A nurse checks Halima's blood pressure at an IRC clinic in Mafraq, Jordan
Syrian refugees outside tents in Domiz camp in Iraq
Ethnic Kurd refugee children from Syria in the Domiz camp in Iraq
A refugee girl tries to keep her baby brother warm in a blanket in Domiz, Iraq
Five Syrian refugee children pose for a photo at Domiz Camp in Iraq
Syrian refugees fill water jugs with clean drinking water in Domiz camp, Iraq
Syrian refugee Jihan Bakar and her children in their tent in Domiz camp, Iraq
Syrian refugee women and girls knit at an IRC women's center in Lebanon
Hind Al-Hujairi paints a henna pattern on a Syrian woman in Lebanon
These refugee children live in one small room with eight other people in the Leb
Syrian refugee Assaa Abdallah and his son in their room behind a Beirut shop

Disaster for uprooted Syrians

Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon
01.17.2013

More than two years after the start of what has become a full fledged civil war, the crisis in Syria threatens the entire Middle East with a humanitarian disaster. It is estimated that more than four million Syrians are now in dire need of assistance and that some two million people have been uprooted and displaced. Photographs and text by Peter Biro

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Mali, part of Sahel crisis, has widespread food shortage, hunger, malnutrition
This health center near Bamako, Mali treats children suffering from malnutrition
A malnourished girl is nursed back to health; the IRC fights hunger in Mali
A mother feeds her baby in an International Rescue Committee clinic in Mali
Medical workers at the clinic in Kati, Mali test if a small boy is malnourished
IRC treats malnourished children; local health posts monitor their progress
IRC theatre group educates crowd how to prevent, recognize malnutrition in Mali
Boy with acute severe malnutrition rushed to IRC health clinic for treatment
Pumping water in Mali
This girl fled with family to Bamako from Gao to find safety, food

Mali hunger crisis in pictures

Emergency Response, Health, Sahel Crisis
10.11.2012

In Mali, political turmoil has exacerbated a food crisis brought on by a severe drought that has affected much of the Sahel region of West Africa. The crisis has displaced over 300,000 people and has had a devastating impact on children who are suffering from growing malnutrition.

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IRC staff and patient in ambulance
A father holds his young son who was recovering from malaria
A health worker examines a women in South Sudan
Midwife Rose Jua holds a newborn baby.
Traditional birth attendant Arek Akot, portrait
A woman and her child wait to see a health worker
An IRC maternal health worker examines an expectant mother
South Sudanese woman, portrait
A child pumps water in Kanajak, South Sudan
Door of a mud-splattered IRC vehicle

Inside our work in South Sudan

07.09.2012

As South Sudan nears its second anniversary as an independent state on July 9, the world’s newest nation continues to struggle with enormous problems. The IRC, which has been working in the region since 1989, provides lifesaving obstetric care, clean water, and assistance to survivors of sexual violence.

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Children at Jalozai Camp in Pakistan study in their tent classroom
A pair of shy young girl students smiles at the camera.
A boy is engaged in class activity at an IRC tent school.
A young girl traces letters in a penmanship class.
Young students enjoy recess at an IRC-run school at the Jalozai Camp.
A student at an IRC-run school at Jalozai Camp plays cricket during recess.
Girl students enjoy recess with their teacher at Jalozai Camp.
The dusty Camp streets are lined with canvas walls, behind which, are tents.
A student peers out of her tent classroom.

Providing stability amid upheaval

Refuge, Pakistan
05.10.2012

More than 5,200 children attend IRC-run schools at the Jalozai camp for those displaced by conflict. The schools provide a stable environment and a routine that helps the children recover from the traumatizing experiences many have faced. Teachers are trained to actively involve students in learning, increasing their self-awareness and confidence.

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An elderly woman sits in her courtyard in rural Pakistan
A rural Pakistani woman fries an egg.
A young girl peeks from behind shawls drying in the sun.
A 22-year-old Pakistani woman sews clothing to help her family
A woman milks a goat in rural Pakistan
<p>She serves the goats&#39; milk to her children, to ensure they are nourished as well. While she acknowledges the importance of her husband, who&#39;s in the fields planting sugar cane, they both acknowledge that everyone in the family plays a crucial role.</p>
A villager making sugar in rural Pakistan.
A Pakistani villager plows
Girls carrying loads of fodder

Pakistan's rural women

Women, Asia
03.07.2012

In rural Pakistan, women play an important role in every aspect of family, culture, work and life. The IRC's Ned Colt met several generations of women from one family in a village where we've been helping residents recover from the devastating floods which inundated close to a fifth of the country in 2010. 

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<p>A year after the disaster, Japan&rsquo;s coastal cities are still filled with rubble. Recovered photo albums and other keepsakes have been placed near the entrances of the few buildings that still stand.</p>
<p>A fisherman harvests abalone in Minami Sanriku, a once thriving fishing village where some 9,500 people perished.</p>
<p>Nearly a quarter of Japan&#39;s population is 65 or older. Losing family members, homes and possessions has made the elderly even more vulnerable and dependent on outside help. Here, staff members from the Japanese aid group Association for Aid and Relief (AAR) spend time with elderly survivors at a nursing home, near the city of Rikuzentakata.</p>
<p>Following the disaster, this nursing home provided shelter to about 600 people. The AAR, with the IRC&rsquo;s support, has helped repair the home as well as distribute food to the elderly.</p>
<p>AAR&rsquo;s Honda Masumi walks among the ruins of what was once a school in the city of Kamaishi. The city&rsquo;s breakwater, recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world&rsquo;s deepest, was destroyed by the tsunami.</p>
<p>As part of a health program for the elderly, AAR&rsquo;s Honda Masumi massages an elderly woman in an evacuation center near the city of Kamaishi.</p>
<p>Children at the Karakuwa elementary school in Kesennuma prepare for a school performance. The IRC and its partner Peace Winds Japan equipped the school with furniture and other items.</p>
<p>Waka Ueno, 86, lost her home in the tsunami. She now lives in an evacuation center in the fishing hamlet of Hakozaki.</p>
<p>With support from the IRC, the aid group Japanese Emergency NGO (JEN) is helping fishermen get back to work. These fishermen received aid to restart fish farms on the devastated Oshika peninsula.</p>
<p>JEN and the IRC are helping fishermen replace equipment and local tradesmen to manufacture new fishing tools. Here, Motomu Suenaga teaches a young fisherman, Fumiyuki Abe, how to make a traditional fishnet.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p><p class="p1">The IRC&#39;s Japan advisor, Shinko Tana, hands over snow blowers, shovels and other equipment to Tadamitsu Wakasaki, deputy mayor of the tsunami-stricken city of Kamaishi.</p>
<p>After the tsunami hit the city of Rikuzentakata, the Seisho-kan vocational center, which served mentally and physically disabled people, was inundated with people seeking help. The ARR handed out food, heaters and other supplies. A year after the disaster, Satoshi Chiba (above) is able to resume his work printing billboards and stickers.</p>

Japan tsunami recovery

Emergency Response, Japan
03.06.2012

On Japan’s tsunami-devastated northeast coast, the IRC is helping Japanese aid groups support the elderly and people with disabilities; supply people living on remote islands with food, fuel, tents, blankets and other critical supplies; and help kick-start the fishing industry.

Story and photos by the IRC's Peter Biro (Published Mar. 6, 2012)

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WASH, IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan
IRC, Education, Students, floods, Pakistan

A class in post-flood recovery

Education, Asia, Pakistan
12.05.2011

As many as five thousand schools were damaged or destroyed in Pakistan's record flooding of 2010.  During this past summer, the IRC rehabilitated nine schools in northern Pakistan. We also retrained teachers, and revived Parent Teacher Associations. 

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A displaced person carries relief supplies distributed by the IRC
A man rebuilds a brick house
An IRC staff member surveys two women in a village
Patiemts in a clinic in Congo
An IRC counselor speaks with a woman
A women carries a small child and a bundle of firewood
Women show an IRC staff member items they have knit
Children write at their school desks
A teacher watches as a child counts on an abacus

Inside our work in Congo

12.01.2011

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, years of violence and political instability have left much of the country in disarray. The IRC supports the people of Congo by providing them with basic services like health care and education, and helps them stay safe amid the ongoing violence.

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An IRC health volunteer translates for a Burmese family at a meeting in Bangkok
A boy makes his way home on a makeshift raft.
An IRC advocacy coordinator distributes water purification tablets in Bangkok
Kaew Nimit and her family wade through flood waters in Bangkok

In the flood's wake

Thailand
11.28.2011

While Thailand’s worst flooding in half a century recedes from most of the capital, nearly a half million Burmese residents of Bangkok are still being seriously affected by the devastation left in the flood’s wake. The IRC is aiding both Burmese and Thai residents in two of the city's hardest-hit neighborhoods. 

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