Astrid Sletten, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s office in Kabul, spoke to The World’s Carol Hills about the level of need in Afghanistan and what aid organizations are able to deliver in the current environment.
When disasters like earthquakes strikes in far-off countries, our first instinct is to help in any way we can. But sometimes that help actually gets in the way of recovery. That’s what reporter Jonathan Katz experienced after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and he has suggestions on how to avoid a repeat.
Days after the earthquake hit Nepal, Shrochis Karki says some rural villages have still seen few signs of help. And while he’s been working from his home in England to coordinate relief efforts, he says part of the blame lies with the world’s fixation on dramatic human interest stories and not real problems.
The news of a US-based case of Ebola has led to hostility against many Liberians and other Africans in the United States. But Liberian Americans are focusing on delivering aid, in many forms, to families affected by the Ebola crisis back home.