Tag Archives: communities

Communities struggle to rebuild following Pakistan’s worst floods

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As communities struggle to rebuild, many have little time to grieve the immense losses they have suffered.  

Since June, over six million people in Pakistan have been affected by what have been described as “unusually heavy monsoon rains” which have claimed nearly 1,000 lives, including about 250 children.

Residents are still recovering from flash floods that turned streams into roaring rivers of mud, with many displaced still sheltering in Government-run camps or with host families who are already stretched to their limit.

In the Buner district of northern Pakistan, dozens perished in Bishnoi village under boulders and debris when flash floods came crashing down the slopes, sweeping away homes and lives in a matter of minutes.

In Buner, northern Pakistan, flash floods turned mountain streams into fields of boulders, with iron rods protruding like rusted crops.

“We had never seen anything like this,” said 35-year-old Habib-un-Nabi, a teacher from Bishnoi village.  

His simple words carry the weight of grief and disbelief. Habib lost eighteen family members in a single day, including his parents and brother.

Those who survived barely had time to mourn. “We were too busy trying to dig out others, to help whoever we could,” recalled Habib.  

IOM support  

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Pakistan began humanitarian operations in the northern flood-affected areas, where hundreds of lives were lost and thousands were left homeless.  

In Punjab – Pakistan’s most populous province and the hardest hit in terms of infrastructure damage during the 2025 floods – IOM worked with partners and through the Common Pipeline, a shared humanitarian logistics system that stores and delivers emergency goods.  

Between August and September 2025, the UN migration agency distributed nearly 14,000 family relief kits tailored to local needs across all four provinces under a single project.

These interventions are part of broader efforts to help communities adapt to a climate crisis that is increasingly human-driven, fuelled by deforestation, rapid urbanisation, and the degradation of natural drainage systems.  

In Naseer Khan Lolai, a village in Kashmore, 65-year-old Ali Gohar has lived through many floods, yet none has been as devastating as this one.  

Entire homes collapsed, cattle were swept away, and the land – owned by local landlords – left farmers like him with little control over their recovery.  

As floods and heatwaves intensify across Pakistan, communities are showing that adaptation is not only possible but essential, turning the human cost of climate change into a call for shared responsibility and stronger action.  

Afghanistan quake: ‘Communities are struggling with basic survival’

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Briefing correspondents in New York via video link, Shannon O’Hara spoke from Jalalabad on the conditions in Afghanistan just days after the magnitude 6 earthquake and its devastating aftershocks.

“We saw families whose lives had been shattered just within a few minutes,” the head of strategy for OCHA in Afghanistan said.

Left with nothing

“The earthquake had destroyed their homes, their farms and their livelihoods, leaving them with absolutely nothing.”

OCHA has managed to reach 49 damaged villages in the Nangarhar, Kunar and nearby affected provinces in eastern Afghanistan.

As humanitarian workers struggle to reach more regions, current reports show that nearly 40,000 people have been impacted by the earthquake, while over 5,000 homes have been destroyed.

Aid workers face challenges

“Even before the earthquake, these villages were difficult to reach,” said Ms. O’Hara. “Now, with the earthquake, it takes extraordinary effort to get there.”

A narrow, one-way road on the mountainside which was “blocked by large rocks from landslides and many vehicles trying to get up and down the valley” is the only way to get to affected areas from Jalalabad, said Ms. O’Hara.

A 100-kilometre drive took Ms. O’Hara and her team more than six and a half hours. To reach victims, first response teams have to drive – and often travel for hours on foot.

‘The heaviest burden’

Emergency responders are prioritising aid to women, children, and locals with disabilities.

“In Afghanistan, in recent years, women and girls have been pushed to the very margins of society and survival,” said Ms. O’Hara. “We know from previous earthquakes and other crises that women and girls always bear the heaviest burden.”

A estimate from UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, shows that 11,600 pregnant women have been affected by the destruction – in a country that already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in region.

OCHA is working to ensure that “that women are represented in health teams and more women aid workers are supporting distributions, along with nutrition, psychosocial and other counseling services,” said Ms. O’Hara.

Alarming potential for disease outbreak

The natural catastrophe has resulted in families living without clean water and sanitation in tents or “under open skies, exposed to rain and cold,” said Ms. O’Hara.

“With cholera endemic in the region and initial assessments indicating that 92 per cent of these communities are practicing open defecation, the potential for a cholera outbreak is alarming,” she continued.

While UN agencies are distributing meals and sanitation kits, efforts need to be scaled up.

“The affected communities are struggling with basic survival,” she stressed.

Urgent action needed

So far, 43,000 victims have received ready-to-eat meals and UN agencies are also providing tents, blankets and sanitation kits to assist families. But humanitarian efforts risk being disrupted if heavy rain floods IDP sites or if potential aftershocks bring more landslides. Snow from the approaching winter season is also expected to block vital roads.

“If we don’t act now, these communities may not survive the coming winter,” said Ms. O’Hara. “Additional funding is urgently needed.”

OCHA has already released $10 million for life-saving supplies and an emergency response plan is currently being finalized.

“Without immediate support the weeks ahead risk compounding this tragedy with preventable disease outbreaks, further displacement and additional loss of life.”

UNOCHA/Ahmad Khalid Khaliqi

Food aid is delivered to people affected by the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan.

Fresh supplies land in Kabul

A new consignment of more than 35 metric tonnes of life-saving medical supplies landed in Kabul on Monday, to enhance the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency response.

WHO has now prepositioned and delivered nearly 80 metric tonnes of emergency health supplies to the country since the disaster.

The newly arrived cargo, mobilised through WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai, includes trauma and emergency surgery kits, primary health care kits, noncommunicable disease kits and essential medicines.

These supplies will be dispatched to health facilities and mobile health teams in the hardest-hit areas, following the ongoing needs assessments.

DR Congo crisis: Aid teams appeal for support to help displaced communities left with nothing

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Since the beginning of the year, Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have swept across eastern DRC, taking key cities including Goma and Bukavu. The violence has displaced more than one million people in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

Speaking from the village of Sake in North Kivu, UNDP Resident Representative Damien Mama described meeting a woman whose house had been destroyed after she fled the advancing fighters in January.

Cut off from livelihoods

“You know, with five children, you can imagine what this represents,” Mr. Mama said. “She was telling me that [her family] were given food and temporary shelter; but what she needs is to go back to her farm to continue farming, to continue her activities, and also have her home rebuilt.”

All those newly displaced by the M23 rebel advance are in addition to the five million people already living in displacement camps in eastern DRC.

Health workers have repeatedly warned that the crowded and unsanitary conditions provide ideal conditions for the spread of diseases including mpox, cholera and measles.

Given the scale of need it is urgent that small businesses get the help they need to get up and running again “providing income-generating activities for the women and the youth creating jobs”, the UNDP official insisted.

“The economy has suffered a lot,” he explained. “The banks have closed, businesses have been destroyed, and many are now operating under 30 per cent of their capacity, which is a major blow to their businesses.”

Support for women and girls

At the same time, the UN agency remains committed to helping the many women and girls impacted by alarming levels of sexual violence.

This echoes an alert issued last month by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), that during the most intense phase of this year’s conflict, a child was raped every half an hour.

In the next five months, UNDP intends to support the creation of 1,000 jobs and restore basic infrastructure, benefiting about 15,000 people.

To do this, the UN agency will need $25 million.

“We have so far secured $14 million thanks to [South] Korea, Canada, UK as well as Sweden; and our call will be to encourage other countries and donors to provide us with [the] $11 million gap.”

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Pandemic accord can be a ‘gamechanger’ for marginalised communities, says youth advocate

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Mr. Hassan and his fellow Youth Councillors advise and actively engage with the WHO Director-General and the agency’s senior leadership, designing and expanding the agency’s programmes and strategies.

In an interview with UN News ahead of the 2025 World Health Assembly – the UN’s highest forum for global health – Mr. Hassan, who was born and raised in Texas, USA,  explains why he started iCure, a global non-profit organisation designed to ensure that all people receive access to preventative medical screening, and how the pandemic treaty could radically improve care for vulnerable communities.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Courtesy of Rehman Hassan

Rehman Hassan: 10 years ago, my grandfather passed away from heart disease. I saw how he was treated differently because of the way that he presented himself, as an immigrant and a person of colour. He was very knowledgeable, but he had limited literacy, and he wasn’t necessarily told what all his options were. I felt that the doctors tried to rush him into surgery and that they forced him to be anaesthetized because they believed he was moving around too much, when in fact he was just in pain and uncomfortable.

I’m convinced that he didn’t get the care that he deserved and that really resonated with me, because I wanted to make sure that no one else felt that way. I saw that, as a young person, my role could involve working at a community level, mobilising other young people to promote things like good diet or exercise, and advocate for those who need help.

That’s how iCure started, and it has blossomed into an international movement. We have hosted a youth fellowship programme with around 65 young people from all over the world, from Vietnam to Qatar to Puerto Rico, discussing the health issues they’re seeing and how to address them, as trusted members of their communities, to bridge the kinds of information gaps that are very common in many marginalized communities, especially amongst low income people and immigrants.

UN News: Tell me about your personal experience during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Rehman Hassan: The pandemic was, for many people across the world, a deeply difficult, scary, intense process. I was living with my grandparents who were immunocompromised, and I knew that they were at significant risk. Whilst we had a lot of vaccines in the US, there was a lot of pandemic disinformation and misinformation; presenting it as something that had a low mortality rate and that we could ignore.

In addition, we had a major winter storm in Texas that froze the state for almost two weeks. We didn’t have access to electricity, gas or water. Our house was flooded and ultimately was destroyed. This combination of the climate crisis and the pandemic meant that many people, especially in my community, were left behind and did not receive the resources that they needed.

Children in Mexico received food baskets during the COVID-19 pandemic (file, 2022)

UN News: The WHO says that the pandemic preparedness treaty, if and when it is adopted, will be a breakthrough for health equity and make a real difference on the ground. Do you agree?

Rehman Hassan: I definitely think it’s a game changer. I got involved with the treaty process through the WHO Youth Council, where I represent an organisation [ACT4FOOD, a global youth-led movement to transform food systems] that primarily focuses on access to food, the social determinants of health and how we can promote change at the community level.

The text of the treaty spells out the efforts that need to be taken at a community level, and each member state has an obligation to make sure that the most vulnerable get access to support or care, as part of their pandemic response plans.

There is a commitment to early detection: if we can detect pandemics early, then we can ensure that everyone has access to the care and resources they need.

UN News: It’s likely that there will be another pandemic in our lifetimes. Will we manage it better than the last one?

Rehman Hassan: We’re definitely seeing an acceleration of pandemics and extreme events that ultimately undermine equity.

I think that the World Health Assembly and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body for the pandemic treaty have done an incredible job of understanding what went wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic, and previous pandemics, and then looking at how we can craft an instrument that will address those inequities or prevent them from happening in the first place.

If member states deliver a meaningful treaty, I think it would significantly improve and facilitate a much better pandemic response than what we saw during last time.

From border control to belonging: How host communities gain from empowering refugees

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In 2024, 122 million people were forcibly displaced — a number expected to rise in the coming years, according to Bob Rae, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), addressing a meeting on the pressing issue in New York on Thursday.

As population movements become much more complex due to wars disproportionately impacting civilians, climate disasters, hunger and poverty, 70 per cent of refugees live in low to middle-income countries.

Refugee rights

International responses to refugee flows are becoming increasingly politicised, especially as aid is decreasing.

Rather than focusing on addressing the root causes of such crises, the Global North has focused on border management and the control of refugee flows, “often at the expense of the rights of people on the move,” Filippo Grandi, Head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) told the ECOSOC gathering.

According to Mr. Grandi, although border management is an important aspect of national government response to the refugee crisis, the emphasis should rather be on making refugees feel more integrated within host communities.

Inclusion of refugees translates to freedom of movement, access to basic services such as healthcare, education, work opportunities, and valid documentation that allows them to work and contribute.

Representatives from Colombia and Mauritania joined a meeting convened by Mr. Rae to talk about better ways to help refugees and the communities that host them, while also finding long-term solutions to the forced displacement crisis.

Both Colombia and Mauritania have welcomed thousands of refugees into their countries, and outlined the positive impact refugees have had on their countries.

Temporary Protection Status in Colombia

In 2021, Colombia adopted a Temporary Protection Status (TPS) programme for Venezuelan refugees.

Today, 2.5 million Venezuelans in Colombia have valid documentation, which provides them access to public services, legal employment, and education.

TPS has not only allowed them to regain dignity and security, but it has also helped Colombia regulate refugee flows.

Human rights at the fore in Mauritania

For over a decade, Mauritania has been hosting large numbers of refugees, most of them from neighbouring Mali.

Committed to upholding the human rights of both refugees and host communities, Mauritania recognises refugees as citizens, providing them with the right to education, healthcare, employment, and legal protection.

Mauritania is working to improve refugee livelihoods while simultaneously enhancing the capacity of host communities by emphasising the role refugees have in local development.

By investing in the resilience of host communities and social cohesion, Mauritania ensures both refugees and host communities live in dignity.

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Ukraine: Continued Russian assaults drive civilians from frontline communities

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“Attacks on frontline regions (are) increasing and it’s always civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said UNHCR Representative Karolina Lindholm Billing.

Since January, more than 3,500 newly displaced people have transited through a centre in Pavlohrad towards central Ukraine; in total, more than 200,000 people have been evacuated or displaced from frontline areas between August last year and the start of 2025.

Last to leave

Last month, more than 4,200 evacuees arrived at a transit centre in the northeastern city of Sumy where UNHCR and partners provide humanitarian support. These numbers are only a fraction of all those made homeless by the violence and mandatory evacuation orders issued by Kyiv in the face of ongoing Russian aggression.

The majority of those being moved are the elderly with low mobility or disabilities, families with few resources and children. In many cases, they stayed until the end because they didn’t want to leave everything they had behind, UNHCR said.

Cities and civilians targeted

On Thursday, UN aid agencies led condemnation of Russian missile-and-drone attack on Kyiv that killed 12 people and injured 84, one of a wave of attacks across the country that point to an intensification of the conflict since the start of the year – and growing humanitarian needs for refugees.

“Those deadly Russian attacks have intensified alarmingly since January,” said Ms. Billing, speaking to journalists in Geneva via videolink from Kyiv.

“More than 1,000 people have been directly affected as their homes have been damaged or completely destroyed. Civilian infrastructure were also hit in several other regions yesterday, including in Kharkiv, where I myself woke up around 2 am in the morning to the loud sound of explosions.”

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, civilian casualties in Ukraine were 70 per cent higher in March this year compared to 12 months earlier.

Supporting lives and livelihoods

The war has left four million internally displaced since 24 February 2022 when Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine. Many of those uprooted have yet to find affordable housing and a new job – which is why support from humanitarian organizations is so crucial, the UNHCR official continued.

“One of the main things we deliver as part of the emergency response are emergency shelter materials that help people cover broken windows, roofs and doors,” Ms. Billing said.

Since 2022, UNHCR has supported around 450,000 people making repairs on their homes. The UN agency also provides psychological first aid and legal support to those who have lost their identity documents and emergency cash assistance to help people cover most basic needs.   

Funding impacts

But more support is needed to sustain a timely and predictable response to the many calls for assistance the agency receives from the affected people and the authorities.

Last year, US funding for UNHCR accounted for around 40 per cent of its overall contributions. For 2025, UNHCR has appealed for $803.5 million to address the emergency situation in Ukraine. Today, that appeal is just 25 per cent funded. During the winter period, the agency had to put some of its programmes partially on hold, impacting psychosocial support, emergency shelter material and cash assistance. 

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Climate change: How mountain communities are scaling new heights

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Investment in organic farming, sustainable textiles and eco-tourism is helping mountain communities in Central Asia adapt to global warming, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday, urging greater support for regions often overlooked in climate discussions.

Mountain residents relying on family farming are among the world’s poorest people, said the agency’s Director-General Qu Dongyu.

Speaking at the International Conference of the Global Mountain Dialogue for Sustainable Development in Bishkek, the FAO chief explained that many alpine people struggle with food insecurity, as climate change, environmental degradation and unsustainable use of resources make it harder to access clean water, food and fertile soils.

Mountain communities, the stewards of mountain resources, have great potential for climate-resilient development.

Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian nation that is home to some of the world’s most diverse and significant mountain ecosystems, is gearing up to host a Global Mountain Summit in 2027.

More resilient systems

“Mountain communities, the stewards of mountain resources, have great potential for climate-resilient development by transforming to more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agrifood systems,” Mr. Qu said, insisting that the protection of mountain ecosystems is a global responsibility.

More than two billion people globally rely on freshwater from glaciers – a fragile supply endangered by rising temperatures and melting snowcaps, he said.  

There has been some progress – but mountain regions remain strained and increasingly impacted by human-induced climate change, biodiversity loss, soil erosion and land degradation.  

Boosting impact

FAO has worked in Kyrgyzstan since 2009 to help the country withstand mounting pressure on its ecosystems. The aims include achieving sustainable food security and supporting sustainable land and forest management.

The UN General Assembly in late 2022 adopted the Five Years of Action for the Development of Mountain Regions to “enhance the awareness of the international community of the problems of mountain countries” and strengthen global efforts to address the challenges these regions face. The plan will extend until 2027.