Responding to emergencies around the world | ERDO Skip to main content

Responding to Crises

When a natural disaster strikes, or people are caught in conflict, innocent children and their families have emergency needs.  People already experiencing poverty are especially vulnerable. Working with our network of partners and churches, we respond as soon as possible with things that are needed, like emergency food, water, sanitation, shelter and supplies. 

You can help us respond quickly in an emergency!

By giving to our crisis response fund, you can provide the resources needed to respond to the next crisis. You can also help us support families as they embark on the difficult challenge of rebuilding their lives and communities. As we rebuild alongside a community, we can increase their capacity to guard against future disasters.  

Thank you for making a life-changing donation to our Crisis Response fund today.

For specific active crisis responses, please read the list below.

Hurricane Fiona

Hurricane Fiona hit the east coast of Canada in early September, leaving thousands of people with extreme damage to property and in need of food and supplies. The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada have been working with local churches throughout the Maritimes to respond to the needs of families.

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Pakistan Flood Crisis

Monsoon rains over several weeks have put Pakistan into a flood crisis. Millions of families are devastated, and their homes are destroyed. ERDO, alongside a local organization, is now responding to bring emergency food, clean water and shelter to families in desperate need.

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War in Ukraine

Ukraine is at war and families are hungry, displaced and facing violence. Today you can bring emergency food, supplies and medicine to families directly in Ukraine and those who have become refugees in Poland, Moldova, Slovakia and Romania.

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Food for the DRC

Democratic Republic of Congo is now facing the world’s largest food crisis and families need immediate assistance to get through each day. Facing conflict for the last 25 years, some families have only known a life of violence. Today, you can bring life-saving food to people in desperate need.

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Food for Yemen

In Yemen, after over seven years of war families are left in desperate need. Over 80% of the country needs humanitarian assistance for survival. Today you can bring food and a livelihood to a family facing hunger and even starvation.

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Conflict in Myanmar

Myanmar is facing incredible humanitarian challenges after the military took over the government in early 2021. Many ethnic minorities have become displaced and need assistance. Together, we are continuing to feed families who have been overlooked and have faced discrimination.

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2021 Crisis Response Summary

28

Worldwide projects

17

Countries helped

95,747

People in crisis assisted

$3.45 million

Spent on crisis response projects. Read more in the ERDO 2021 Annual Report.

Click each year below to reveal more about our past crisis response projects

  • Responded to the August 14th earthquake in Haiti by providing emergency food baskets, hygiene and household supplies to approximately 900 families.
  • Continued to assist 800 families facing insurgence in Myanmar with emergency food. Many of these families were ethnic minorities, threatened with violence and facing extreme poverty.
  • Helped after the St. Vincent volcano eruption, through a daily meal for evacuees and helped reconstruct damaged homes and roofs.
  • Partnered with the ChildCARE Plus team and local pastors to provide food, supplies and housing repair to 150 families after flooding in Cambodia.
  • Debris removal, emergency food, and hygiene supplies for families affected by Hurricanes Eta and Iota in Honduras and Guatemala.
  • Roofing materials and other supplies to repair or replace the roofs of 125 houses damaged by hurricanes in Philippines.
  • Assisted Zimbabwe after years of drought through emergency food for 4,550 people in need.
  • Emergency food for 7,800 people in Yemen. We also developed a cash-for-work program to employ 6,400 locals and develop community building initiatives.
  • Responded to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we helped deliver emergency food packages, household items and medical supplies to 400 of the neediest families in Chennai, India.
  • Supported the Kolkata Mercy Hospital and the GEMS hospital in Chennai with two breathing machines, an ICU ventilator, and an oxygen generation unit.
  • Provided hygiene and sanitation kits to care for 1,300 refugees in Turkey who fled their home countries due to conflict.
  • Replaced 15 wells that had been destroyed in a fire to bring clean water to approximately 8,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
  • Assisted 3,600 South Sudanese refugees living in Uganda with psychosocial, trauma healing and peace building support in the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement.

All of ERDO’s existing programs required adaptation during the COVID-19 pandemic. We ensured that all program staff had the required adequate personal protective equipment to administer programs. We also had to incorporate social distancing and other safeguarding procedures (including for food preparation/distribution). Restrictions on movement and on the market availability of goods also impacted our programs.

Despite the challenges we were able to:

  • Respond to flooding in Uganda with emergency hygiene kits while helping the community plan for future disasters with emergency preparedness training.
  • Provide emergency food for 11,000 children in Zimbabwe, 6,400 people in Yemen, 2,550 pregnant and nursing mothers, and other vulnerable refugees in Uganda.
  • Provide emergency food vouchers for 1,690 people in the wake of the Beirut explosion.
  • Work through our ChildCARE Plus locations to provide emergency food to sponsored children and their families.

  • Food assistance for South Sudanese refugees was a priority in 2019, as five years of violence and insecurity took a toll on women, children and vulnerable individuals. ERDO’s partner, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG) Uganda, provided supplementary feeding through a fortified corn and soy blend cereal to save lives in Rhino Camp and Imvepi Refugee Settlement.
  • PAG Uganda and ERDO identified pregnant and nursing mothers as falling into a nutritional gap when it came to life-saving food distributions. Focusing on providing nutritious food for these women, we also provided fortified cereal to children separated from their parents, the elderly, the vulnerable, those with chronic illnesses like HIV/AIDS, TB, Hepatitis B and people with disabilities.
  • With the trauma of being uprooted from one’s home, another aspect of our programming was to build the capacity of 31 community facilitators. These community leaders are refugees trained to support the psychosocial needs of over 3,700 South Sudan refugees living within 10 villages in Ofua and Ocea zones of Rhino Camp, Northern Uganda. All 31 facilitators have been trained on how to know when people need extra support, including identifying post-traumatic stress disorder, and knowing who to refer them to.
  • We also assisted South Sudanese refugees in the Ugandan Rhino Refugee Camp with school supplies. Many refugee children struggle to find the tools they need for their education. In partnership with PAG Uganda, we helped to equip 490 students with the supplies, backpacks and books needed to succeed in school.
  • In response to the devastating food crisis in Yemen, ERDO launched a six-month food assistance program along with a trusted local Christian partner. To address the onset of famine conditions in the south, monthly food basket distributions were provided to 800 vulnerable households, about 5,120 people. This project received a 4:1 Canadian government match through our membership in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
  • A severe drought in Somalia left two million people facing starvation in the summer of 2019.  Thanks to the response of supporters, ERDO provided emergency food to approximately 4,000 people per month for three months through our local partner. The total program provided over $325,000 in emergency food supplies, when matched by the generosity of the Canadian government.
  • ERDO continued meeting the needs of Rohingya refugees who poured into Bangladesh to escape persecution. With our partner, The Pentecostal Assemblies of Bangladesh (PAOB), families were provided with food (rice, lentils, oil and other essentials) and emergency kits including flashlights, replacement clothing, hygiene kits and supplies for other basic needs. In addition, we saw clean water was a priority, so the installation of over 40 deep tube wells within the refugee camps took place.
  • A Guatemalan volcano relief project was completed in February 2019. In June 2018 the Fuego eruptions devastated several towns around the active volcano. This housing reconstruction project served 35 widows and their families in in San Andreas, Osuna. The project was in partnership with PAOC Global Workers Hector and Ruth Aragon, who have been serving in Guatemala for over 20 years.
  • Food needs in Zimbabwe continued to be a focus. ERDO and our partner the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe (PAOZ) provided fortified cereal to 11,575 children under 5 and youth with special needs.  These children were at risk of malnutrition due to severe drought conditions in 30 communities throughout Tsholotsho District. As this drought was ongoing, and the worsening economic situation left families unable to afford food, we expanded this project to the Gutu and Zaka Districts. We provided families with ten kg of ground maize, two kg of beans and one L of fortified cooking oil per family member per month.

  • Provided critically needed food for 197,247 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Also installed 100 borewells providing clean water for drinking and personal hygiene.
  • Provided supplementary nutrition and food assistance to 29,330 people impacted by the Horn of Africa drought across Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan.
  • Assisted 3,500 people with emergency family food kits in five communities in response to flooding in the Kerala region of India.
  • Provided 3,700 South Sudanese refugees with psychosocial support, as well as provided 2,500 people with supplementary nutrition.

  • Provided cash cards to assist people affected by the BC Wildfires with food and other housing needs after returning home from evacuation orders
  • Supplied nutritional baby formula to almost 100 Syrian refugee infants in Jordan
  • Offered food and nutritional support to 30,281 people impacted by drought and displacement in Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan
  • Provided supplementary feeding to South Sudan Refugees: 2,000 pregnant and lactating women and 500 persons with special needs in Uganda
  • Supplied 200 individuals in the Dominican Republic with aid packages that included food, household supplies, and mattresses after Hurricane Irma.
  • Gave assistance to families in Haiti to prevent emergence of diarrhea, waterborne disease and cholera by providing water filters, mosquito nets, and hygiene kits for 1,000 people.
  • Provided critically needed food for over 170,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.