Red Cross, EU launch ‘Silent Disasters’ campaign

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched a campaign to draw more attention to what it calls ‘Silent Disasters’.

The organisation will broadcast a short film in 11 EU countries to highlight under-reported humanitarian crises.

It is backed by the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva.

“Why it is important for these Silent Disasters to speak up because more people in more areas are affected by them and this stabilises local communities,” Georgieva said.

“For solidarity to work for all, we have to make the voices of people who are now in Silent Disasters heard.”

The campaign follows a series of Red Cross-backed documentaries by euronews journalist Chris Cummins, which covered Haiti’s post-quake recovery and the plight of Aborigines in Australia.

Red Cross research has found that 91 percent of the disasters they respond to often go unnoticed and can fail to attract the essential funds needed.

Watch the video below to learn more about the campaign and visit the IFRC's Silent Disasters page for more information. You can also watch euronews’ previous editions of Silent Disasters, produced in partnership with the IFRC, below the video player.

Here is the link to the launch of the Silent Disasters campaign.

Watch euronews' Silent Disasters series

Australia- Dream Time in Down Town
Sri Lanka- A9 to reconciliation
Liberia- Crossing the Cavalla
Ulaanbaatar- Mongolia’s capital under pressure
Haiti- Coping with catastrophe

Sri Lanka: A9 to reconciliation | euronews, silent disasters

The Northern Sri Lankan city of Kilinochchi acted as the de-facto capital for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for more than a decade. In November 2008 the Sri Lankan army launched sustained attacks on the town from three directions. Battles raged along the A9, the main highway from Colombo to the Tamil areas in the north of the country, many people were killed and most of the town destroyed before the Sri Lankan army regained control in January 2009.

Since then the area has undergone massive reconstruction, schools are being built and water and power supplies re-established and the resurfaced A9 acts as a powerful symbol as the country moves towards reconciliation.

For the people, problems persist but the bloody civil war is finally over.

Click on the link below to see the Euronews report.

Sri Lanka: A9 to reconciliation | euronews, silent disasters