Disaster Preparedness & Response, North Macedonia

Relief interventions and distribution of aid to people left vulnerable from man-made and natural disasters, which have overwhelmed the local capacity to respond.

Operation Mercy assisted in the establishing of safe passage of refugees stemming from the Syrian refugee crisis of 2014-2017. Operation Mercy distributed food aid and non-food-items to counter exposure, hypothermia and dehydration, in addition to providing emergency personnel for protection and transport of especially vulnerable individuals. August 2016 also saw a disastrous flood in the Skopje overnight destroy housing and kill scores in one of the poorest parts of the city. Operation Mercy short-listed some of those who were most vulnerable had missed reconstruction aid and distributed temporary furniture, provided materials for reconstruction and oversaw first-floor reconstruction for winterisation.

Disaster Preparedness and Response exists to provide a framework relief assistance in the event of further disasters. Macedonia is precariously situated on a natural fault-line and Skopje was devastated by an earthquake in 1963, killing 10,000. Lower level earthquakes have re-occurred in 2016 and 2017 leaving many sleeping out of doors.