• Other Global Locations
  • Search
Host an Event
Donate
  • Responding to Emergencies

URGENT: Help Us Respond to Emergencies in the Philippines, India and Zimbabwe Right Now

on  August 20, 2024

In recent months, several of the communities we serve have been hit with natural disasters, and we are working actively with our global member network to respond. The Philippines is facing the aftermath of extreme flooding caused by Typhoon Carina, India has experienced devastating floods and landslides, and Zimbabwe is in the midst of a severe drought as a result of El Niño conditions. Across these crises, millions of people have been affected and are in need of critical aid.We are acting fast to respond and support those in need. Alongside our global member offices in the Philippines, India and Italy, and with global partners, we are providing critical food and other assistance to people in the Philippines, India and Zimbabwe — and we need your help. Keep reading to learn more about our current emergency response efforts and how you can support people affected by these crises and more!

Providing Meals to Those Affected by Flooding in the Philippines

Typhoon Carina brought a deluge of heavy rain to the Philippines in late July. Already experiencing monsoon rains during this time of year, the typhoon resulted in major flooding and landslides in the country’s capital city of Manila and largest island of Luzon. More than 770,000 people have been impacted. Displaced from their homes, hundreds of thousands of people are in critical need of food, water and shelter. Rise Against Hunger is responding right now to address immediate needs. Our team in the Philippines is going to barangays (a Filipino term similar to neighborhoods or boroughs) to provide essential items to those affected. We have distributed food and other aid, including hot meals, Rise Against Hunger meals, water bottles, shampoo packs, canned goods and more, and we will continue to provide assistance as families and communities recover from this disaster.  

Distributing Critical Supplies After Landslides in India

On July 30, India’s Kerala state, located in the southern part of the country, was hit with five times the normal amount of rain. This caused two consecutive landslides to occur in the middle of the night while many families were sleeping. The landslides washed away villages and swept away homes, leaving around 200 people dead and 130 people still missing. In addition, over 5,500 had to be evacuated as heavy rains and possible risk of more landslides continued. We are responding to distribute relief kits to those affected by what The Guardian is calling one of the area’s “worst disasters in years.” Rise Against Hunger India is distributing food and other essential items, including water, first aid, utensils & cutlery, cleaning supplies and hygiene kits, to people affected. 

Supplying Emergency Meals As Zimbabwe Faces a Major Drought

In Zimbabwe, Rise Against Hunger is partnering with ADRA Zimbabwe to provide urgent assistance to people impacted by a severe drought. Lack of rainfall from El Niño conditions has decimated crops and crushed harvests, leading to food shortages and increased rates of acute hunger. Across Southern Africa, the drought has left 5 million people in need of critical support and Zimbabwe recently declared a national emergency.  Rise Against Hunger has partnered with ADRA Zimbabwe since 2017. From 2017-2019, we worked to address the impacts of the El Niño drought of 2016, and we expanded in 2019 to implement the Planting Seeds for Strong Communities project to support long-term food security in Gokwe North, Zimbabwe. As the country faces a major El Niño drought again, our work with ADRA Zimbabwe continues to adapt to address the urgent needs. Rise Against Hunger U.S. and Rise Against Hunger Italia are working together to provide 2.3 million emergency meals for people affected by this crisis.

How You Can Help

Your support makes this relief work possible. During difficult times of crisis, we are committed to working with in-country partners and responding on the ground to provide communities with critical meals and supplies when it is needed most. Give now to Rise Against Hunger’s Global Emergency Relief Fund to raise funds for these emergency response efforts, and our crisis relief efforts around the globe.

About the Author

Hannah Payne is the Public Relations & Communications Manager at Rise Against Hunger. She facilitates communication between Rise Against Hunger and the media.

More Posts by Hannah Payne

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.