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World Disasters Report 2016 - Resilience: Saving Lives Today, Investing for Tomorrow

Thu, 2016-12-08 15:29 — Kathy Gilbeaux

New report calls for a major shift in international aid financing

CLICK HERE - REPORT - World Disasters Report 2016 - Resilience: Saving Lives Today, Investing for Tomorrow

ifrc.org - October 13, 2016

A lack of global investment in strengthening community resilience is leaving tens of millions of people exposed to predictable, preventable and catastrophic disaster risks, stresses the World Disasters Report 2016, launched today by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

According to the report, despite broad recognition that investing in resilience before a disaster can save lives and money, only 40 cents in every 100 US dollars spent on international aid is invested in preparedness and measures to reduce disaster risk.

“Investing in resilience is the best method we have for protecting the lives, livelihoods and dignity of the world’s most vulnerable people,” said IFRC Secretary General, Elhadj As Sy. “Business as usual is no longer acceptable. It will only lead to more silent suffering and deeper poverty.

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Horror in Sierra Leone: A Single Spark Gives Ebola New Life

Mon, 2014-12-15 17:09 — mike kraft

NBC NEWS by Maggie Fox Dec. 15, 2014
In especially deadly outbreak of Ebola burned unseen in a remote part of Sierra Leone for several weeks, giving public health experts a reality check. It's also a perfect embodiment of the warning that they've been giving for months: that a single spark can set off a conflagration of disease and death.

It happened in Kono, a remote district bordering Guinea. World Health Organization workers heard rumors of deaths and traveled there to find scenes out of a horror movie. At least 87 people had died and been hastily buried, often without the precautions needed to stop the corpses from infecting the living....

What happened in Kono illustrates just how fragile any success is.

It's likely that just one person carried the virus there from an affected area, and without precautions in place, it spread like wildfire.

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What an Ebola curfew looks like

Mon, 2014-12-15 16:49 — mike kraft

Killian Doherty, an Irish architect working for the Architectural Field Office (AFO), has been in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, for much of the Ebola epidemic. He documented the curfews in some dramatic photographs

THE GUARDIAN by Killian Doherty and René Boer for Failed Architecture Dec. 15, 2014

FREETOWN -- Sierra Leone has been severely affected by Ebola. Over the last six months, the country has seen a high death toll, immense human suffering and a wide range of restrictive measures that have hampered economic and urban life. Most dramatically, in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, the authorities have instituted a set of curfews that have forced residents to stay at home, resulting in a seemingly deserted city.

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What We Don’t Know About Ebola

Sun, 2014-11-02 18:31 — mike kraft

Overview of what still needs to be learned about the Ebola virus

Research studies have suggested at least three potential paths through which the Ebola virus can invade tissues. Credit Photograph by the C.D.C. via Getty Images

THE NEW YORKER Nov. 1, 2014

By Jerome Groopman

...there are still serious gaps in what we know about the biology of Ebola, and that ignorance inhibits us from preventing future outbreaks and reducing death rates that still exceed seventy per cent. We don’t know enough about the biology of Ebola to bring the outbreak under full control, or to neutralize the virus once the outbreak is contained. Between on-the-ground efforts and advances in science, we need a balanced approach.

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