AMURT in India has been active in most major disasters since 1965. In recent years multiple teams responded to the Gujarat Earthquake 2001, the Asian Tsunami in 2005, and floods in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The 2011 drought in Kenya was declared a national disaster by President Mwai Kibaki in April of 2011. Access to food and water had become very scarce, millions of livestock have died, and territorial violence had increased drastically as people competed for patches of fertile land. When nourishment could be found, heightened demand raised prices and made staple goods difficult to obtain. On June 28th of that year, the United Nations reported that 3.5 million people weere in need of humanitarian relief.
We asked PLWA to describe any changes they have seen in themselves as a result of the HBC provider’s visits. 29 respondents generated 37 responses about how different aspects of the program had benefited their life. 65% referred to the respondents’ health. Other responses cited improvements from counseling, support groups and overcoming stigma.
AMURT's center is situated just at the edge of the artificial lake of Bissiri, deep in the country side of Burkina Faso, 45 kilometers south of the capital, Ouagadougou. The land was donated by the people of the community, who hope it will spur development and help provide the basic necessities of life.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, AMURT and AMURTEL focused on providing emergency supplies to the survivors. We distributed more than US$300,000 worth of food and non-food, medical and recreational items in the first three months to thousands of tsunami survivors in different parts of Aceh.