Global Disaster Appeals
CAF Australia wants to keep donors up-to-date with the relief efforts that various organisations are raising money for in disaster affected areas throughout the world. The following are just a few of the many projects that are currently being undertaken:
2012 Queensland & New South Wales Flood Appeals
East Africa Appeals
Pakistan Flood Appeals
2011 Queensland & Victoria Flood Relief Efforts
2012 Queensland & New South Wales Flood Appeals
Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal
The Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal has been activated to help those affected by wide-spread devastating flooding in South West Queensland.
The town of St George is facing a record flood peak and mandatory evacuations have been required to ensure the safety of the members of the public. There has also been extensive flooding at Mitchell and Roma with Mitchell having already experienced the worst flooding in well over a century.
At this stage the fund will cover the Murweh, Maranoa, Balonne and the Central Highlands Regional Council areas.
Every dollar donated will be directed toward helping Queenslanders in need. Donations of $2 or more will be tax deductible.
If you would like to contribute to this appeal, click here.
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army Emergency Services volunteers are actively working on the front line in flood affected areas of NSW and Queensland.
Salvation Army officers and volunteers are serving in and around the communities of Moree, Roma and Mitchell and are preparing to serve in other areas if required. Salvation Army officers and volunteers will continue to work in these communities when the floodwaters recede, to support individuals and families so drastically affected by the floods as they move toward recovery. Major Bruce Harmer, Communications & Public Relations Secretary for The Salvation Army, says: "The Salvation Army is well placed to provide this support given its recent experience in helping people recover from the devastating Queensland floods 12 months ago. We know that the journey to recovery continueslong after the rain has ceased and the waters have subsided. We also know that while there will be government disaster assistance available, there are still many practical needs that people need help with, and communities will need access to counsellors and financial advisors to help people through this crisis." To enable the provision of this assistance, The Salvation Army has announced their Australian Disaster Relief Appeal as a means to support communities in both States affected by the natural disaster.
“We’ve been there to support people before in times of flood”, said Major Bruce Harmer, “so we’re asking the community to help us be there again by donating funds to our Australian Disaster Relief Appeal.”
Donations can be made to The Salvation Army’s Australian Disaster Relief Appeal by going to salvos.org.au or calling 13 SALVOS (13 72 58).
East Africa Appeals
United Nations World Food Programme
Long-awaited rains and a good harvest have brought relief to drought-affected areas of the Horn of Africa but millions still need food assistance.
Access to food remains difficult for millions of poor households due to low market prices of animals and high prices of local cereals. At the end of 2011, local maize prices were still significantly higher than the previous year’s prices. And in parts of northern Somalia (Puntland and Somaliland) rains were below normal
WFP is focusing its efforts on distributing food to as many people as it can reach in areas of Somalia to which it has access, and has been reaching around 1.3 million people and will continue to assess and address the needs accordingly where it has access. Currently, WFP has access to: Puntland, Somaliland, the Central regions, Mogadishu and some border areas of the south.
Somalia is one of the most challenging and dangerous environments to work, largely due to insecurity, poor infrastructure and a widely scattered population. Please give generously to support the WFP Somalia Relief effort here.
Oxfam
Severe drought has pushed more than 13 million people in East Africa into a struggle for survival. The UN has officially declared famine in southern Somalia and conditions continue to deteriorate.
With your help, Oxfam aims to reach a total of 3.5 million people by digging wells, trucking water to villages where all other water sources have dried up, and providing life-saving food and medical supplies to people in crisis. Beyond their immediate needs, we're also assisting communities to build resilience against similar situations in the future.
Andrew Hewett, Executive Director, Oxfam has just returned from Dadaab camp in Kenya — which is now the largest refugee camp in the world. Originally built for 90,000, it’s now host to over 420,000 refugees arriving in search of help. “The widespread malnutrition and overcrowding was certainly the worst I’ve ever seen. I can’t emphasise enough the fact that your support of Oxfam’s East Africa Food Crisis Appeal is helping save lives in East Africa. “says Andrew.
Help the people of East Africa in their fight for survival — make a tax-deductible gift now online or FREECALLOxfam on 1800 034 034 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday (AEST). 
World Vision
East Africa has been struck by severe drought, affecting the lives of over 12 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Some 1.6 million children under five are malnourished and this figure is growing. Many communities have been forced to move in search of water and pasture. Many families have been compelled to travel long distances in search of food. This migration has resulted in hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people within Somalia, with refugee camps in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia stretched beyond capacity.
World Vision is responding to both the immediate and long-term needs of communities in the region, aiming to assist 2.5 million people. Emergency relief includes food distribution, supplementary feeding for malnourished children and breastfeeding mothers, medical support through immunisation and disease control, livestock vaccination, agricultural support through the provision of seeds prior to upcoming rains, water trucking to communities and schools, and cleaning shallow wells and borehole rehabilitation.
Isnino, 22, exchanged conflict and drought in Somalia for refugee status in Kenya. “There I had a house. We had a farm, even though nothing would grow,” she says. But walking from Somalia meant Isnino and her husband could carry only their two children. “We came with only the clothes we are wearing,” she says.
For more information please visit World Vision here. 
Save the Children
In East Africa more than 6 million children are facing starvation due to the worst drought the region has seen in 60 years. Save the Children has been working around the clock to deliver life-saving assistance to severely malnourished children and mothers in the very short term, including those most seriously affected by conflict, protecting lives through support and provision of basic services such as health, clean water and above all education, protecting livelihoods and assets by providing social safety nets for hard pressed farmers and pastoralists, and committing more resources to environmental protection, sustainable use of water resources, drought preparedness and reducing the risks of the most vulnerable. To donate, go to www.savethechildren.org.au
Anglicord
Anglicord has launched an appeal to assist our partners in East Africa to deal with the devastating drought and famine.
Ethiopia has been severely affected by the drought and famine, compounded in the Afar region by volcanic eruptions which have contaminated remaining water supplies. People are severely malnourished, and pregnant women and children are weakened and vulnerable to disease. Basic humanitarian needs are being distributed to people through Anglicord’s long standing relationship with Australian midwife Valerie Browning. Anglicord’s partners’ short term program of support covers shelter, household utensils and secured food and water for displaced people; animal treatment, supplementary animal feed; nutrition support, disease surveillance and prevention. Longer term, Val Browning says that they will assist with reconstructing dams and cisterns, goat restocking and promoting alternative ways for families to earn an income.
Please visit our website, www.anglicord.org.au for more information.
UNHCR
The worst drought in 60 years has caused the world's most severe food crisis in East Africa with millions of people currently in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. The UN Refugee Agency is providing emergency relief and assistance to the hundreds of thousands fleeing conflict and famine.
So far UNHCR has distributed some 60,000 Emergency Assistance Packages within Somalia, and emergency medical programs are helping to reduce malnutrition rates in children in camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.
More than 1000 people continue to arrive at UNHCR camps in the region every day, and over 320,000 Somalis have left their homeland since the beginning of the year. While our Emergency Response Teams have already provided essential aid to hundreds of thousands of people, huge needs remain – this crisis is far from over.
The rainy season is fast approaching, and with it will come a serious risk of water-borne disease. We urgently need to upgrade sanitation and health facilities in our camps, and ensure we have enough tents to provide shelter and protection.
We urgently need more support to continue this vital work, so please give generously.
For more information or to make a life-saving donation please visit the UNHCR website here.
Pakistan Floods
World Vision
Torrential monsoon rains in September 2011 have affected more than 5.3 million people in southern Pakistan, killing more than 200 people and destroying or damaging one million homes. Many of the communities impacted were still recovering from the devastating impact of the nationwide floods in 2010, which were the worst in Pakistan’s history.
In the worst affected areas in Sindh province, child malnutrition is at emergency levels. With families unable to harvest swamped crops once again, children are in desperate need of nutritious food to help them survive this second disaster.
World Vision is responding with emergency relief operations that are providing essentials such as food, shelter, hygiene kits, water purification tablets and mosquito nets. Programs at the 14 therapeutic feeding centres established in response to last year’s flooding have been stepped up.
“We managed to save our food in the house this year, but our crops are covered in water. All the food we are buying is on credit. If we have any crops left when the water goes, then I must pay them back. If there’s not, I don’t know what we’ll do,” explains Sehat, a 35 year old mother of seven.
For more information please visit World Vision here.
Queensland & Victoria Flood Relief Efforts
Conservation Volunteers Australia
Conservation Volunteers has a long history of assisting in both the response and recovery phase of numerous disasters ranging from devastating bushfires and cyclones to oil spills and whale-strandings. Natural disasters like fires, droughts, floods and violent storms occur all too frequently. Man-made disasters such as oil-spills can cause significant damage to our natural environment too. Our volunteers support communities and the environment as they respond to and recover from disasters. Past activities have included cleaning and feeding oil-affected birds and reinstating fences after major bushfires.
More recently, Conservation Volunteers has been assisting with critical flood recovery efforts by sending teams of volunteers to assist hundreds of farmers, landcare groups and communities with practical flood recovery and environmental repair. Volunteers have achieved some impressive on-ground outcomes including;
* Planting approximately 30,000 trees and shrubs to re-establish flood affected areas
* Repairing, constructing or removing debris from over 250,000m of fenceline
* Removing almost 6 tonnes of rubbish
"A heartfelt thank you for the help given to me last week by your volunteers. I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful, hardworking people who collaboratively not only reduced my farm recovery phase by a good six months; but also reduced my physical exhaustion level, sense of hopelessness, isolation and despair."
Rae Moschetti – landholder
As a non-profit conservation group, the support of generous individuals and businesses is essential to fund the work that we do - we welcome your support too!
For more information please visit our website here.
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