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“There wasn’t any health care facility before this project. The transport problem was so severe that often mothers and their babies lost their lives on the way.” 

The world watched in horror as the news emerged that two earthquakes had struck Türkiye and Syria on February 6 last year.

The people of Tana River County are no strangers to flooding. Living in the basin of Kenya’s largest river, people know that the river can wash away farm land, displace people from their homes, and bring disease. 

 “A hungry person cannot see right or wrong” – More than 3.8 million people in Somalia are internally displaced, forced from their homes by a lethal combination of climate change and chronic conflict. The people of rural Somalia, heavily dependent on farming and livestock for survival, are suffering the increased frequency of extreme weather events. For those surviving drought, the cruel relief is flash flooding, washing away the meagre assets of people already on the brink.

“Nearly everyone had a traumatic story to tell, some of them almost unimaginable in their brutality.”  Ten years later, Kieran McConville recalls his experience of meeting Syrian refugees fleeing into Lebanon in 2013. That year marked a catastrophic escalation of the Syria conflict, and the beginning of the Concern Syria response.  

In Bangladesh, flooding is now part of life. The Zurich Foundation, in partnership with Concern Worldwide, supports communities in adapting to annual flooding.  

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and the world’s poorest people are the most severely impacted.  

This is how a cherished community centre has become a beacon of hope and stability for people in Türkiye.