Cookies on oxfam

We use cookies to ensure that you have the best experience on our website. If you continue browsing, we’ll assume that you are happy to receive all our cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more Close

Policy & Practice Blog

The latest news, stories, reports, opinion and analysis from Oxfam Policy & Practice staff around the world.

Subject: disasters

16 Articles

Showing articles 1-10

People gather around destroyed buildings following an attack of jet fighters in Al-Wakalat street, the Al-Sukkari quarter, Aleppo, Syria, 07 April 2013. EPA/LUAY ABU AL-JOUD

Syria: the world must unite

The human cost of Syria's conflict has risen beyond all expectations. There are already more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries. Inside Syria itself, 6.8 million people struggle in urgent need of assistance. As we publish a new briefing note on the crisis, Ed Cairns describes how, as the numbers grow, the money to help some of those refugees and displaced people is running out. ...

Read more

The Upper Nile refugee crisis - a view from the ground

For its size, the humanitarian response to the Upper Nile State refugee crisis was one of the most expensive in the world,  but what did it look like on the ground? Away from the chaos of flooding and  mismanagement that plagued the humanitarian agencies working there, what has it been like for the refugees themselves? From her point of view as Oxfam's Humanitarian Policy Adviser in Maban County, Sultana Begum gives...

Read more
Volunteers leading the evacuation drill. Credit: Dow Punpiputt/Oxfam

Get ready, get set… BEEP! Can mobile phones deliver community-based early warning systems in Sri Lanka?

Back in November, Dow Punpiputt  travelled to Sri Lanka with the Digital Vision team to see how Oxfam is using mobile technology in disaster risk reduction. Here she reports on the innovative project she witnessed there.  ...

Read more
Information board updated by Government officials following typhoon Bopha. Credit: Caroline Gluck/Oxfam

So, what was 2012’s worst humanitarian disaster?

Ed Cairns, an Oxfam senior policy adviser, looks back on a very mixed year in humanitarian crises. ...

Read more
Tonton, a 10 year old boy from Sitio Maoa, Brgy Aquino, Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, lost his family’s house and its entire seaweed farm. Credit: Dante Dalabajan

Typhoon Bopha's terrible blow to Philippine seaweed farmers

Typhoon Bopha (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Pablo) has devastated the seaweed farmers of Hinatuan, who were only just starting to recover from 2011's Typhoon Washi (local name Sedong). Dante Dalajaban draws a parallel with the recent knockout of celebrated Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao. ...

Read more

Typhoon Bopha moves west of the Philippines - impact less severe than expected

Despite being tagged as a super typhoon, the damages and destruction caused by typhoon Bopha was not as severe compared to last year's tropical storm Washi which affected similar areas, said international humanitarian agency Oxfam. ...

Read more
Women at the IDDR event in Bangkok

Thai older women as village security guards? And what has it got to do with DRR?

Ines Smyth reports back on the event held to mark International Disaster Risk Reduction Day 2012. ...

Read more
Gomati Dhami. President of Drinking Water & Sanitation Users Committee. Checking chillis in vegetable garden irrigated by waste water. Nepal. Jane Beesley/ Oxfam

Dalit women leading disaster preparedness in Nepal

On the eve of The International Day for Disaster Reduction, Oxfam's Global Humanitarian Gender Adviser Tess Dico Young reports on a project that enabled women from marginalised Dalit communities to lead sanitation and disaster risk reduction activities in Darchula Distruct, Western Region, Nepal. ...

Read more
Testing the emergency well jetting equipment

Emergency well jetting — Oxfam humanitarian staff test out new kit

What do humanitarian staff do in their spare time? They have fun testing new kit, of course. Matt Carter shares his video of Oxfam water engineers trying their hand at well jetting. ...

Read more
A doctor from Oxfam partner Pact in Bogale counsels a mother whose daughter has become dehydrated. Credit: Pact/Oxfam

Helping communities prepare for disasters. Part 1: the email exchange phase

Next week, Senior Gender Adviser Ines Smyth will be in Myanmar working on a new approach to disaster preparation that focuses on capacity rather than their vulnerability. Right now she's still in Oxford and here gives us a glimpse into her work. ...

Read more

Can't find what you're looking for? View all topics and posts

RSS updates

Subscribe to our feeds for the latest Policy & Practice updates.