August 18

World Humanitarian Day 2017
Saturday, August 19th

World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is held every year on August 19th to pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service and to rally support for people affected by crises around the world.

Every year, disasters cause immense suffering for millions of people – usually the world's poorest, most marginalized and vulnerable individuals. Humanitarian aid workers strive to provide life-saving assistance and long term rehabilitation to disaster-affected communities, regardless of where they are in the world and without discrimination based on nationality, social group, religion, sex, race or any other factor.

This year, the Geneva World Humanitarian Day commemoration is organized in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).

The commemoration will include a panel discussion on “Violence against health care and its implications for affected populations, humanitarian workers, and aid”, and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will give introductory remarks at the formal programme held at the Palais des Nations on Monday, 21 August 2017.

2017 WHD campaign: #NotATarget

What happened this week?

Tropical Storm Harvey Is Drenching the Windward Islands. Tropical Storm Harvey is beginning to bring rain to the Windward Islands, and may pose a threat early next week in parts of Central America's Caribbean coast. ... Read more

6.1 Earthquake startles Central Peru. On Sunday, several cities in Peru were affected by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake ... Read more


Interesting Facts

How friction evolves during an earthquake. By simulating earthquakes in a lab, engineers at California Institute of Technology have documented the evolution of friction during an earthquake -- measuring what could once only be inferred, and shedding light on one of the biggest unknowns in earthquake modeling ... Read more


What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Humanitarian access in a changing world: why security risk management matters. Humanitarian access is undoubtedly affected by all of these, offering aid workers new challenges to reach those most in need … Read more

UW gets in on $4.9 million boost for ShakeAlert earthquake warning system. The University of Washington and six other research institutions will benefit from $4.9 million in funding from the U.S. Geological Survey for the ShakeAlert earthquake warning system, which could eventually provide precious seconds of advance notice that a seismic shock is coming … Read more

Earthquake researchers to map faults by airplane. The U.S. Geological Survey in coordination with the Oklahoma Geological Survey and other groups this week began using a modified small airplane to study the state's geology in an attempt to map deep, existing faults, to help stop earthquakes from rumbling deep beneath the Oklahoma soil … Read more