Soil Decontamination/ Phytoremediation

After man-made chemical or nuclear accidents, soil often remains contaminated with chemical substances that are dangerous to human health. In order to recover contaminated soils, chemicals can be extracted either chemically by acids or biologically by plants. The removal by plants is called, phytoremediation. In chemical cleansing the soil has to be removed and treated […]

Demining

MgM Menschen gegen Minen / People Against Landmines is an NGO working in the field of landmine detection and destruction. Their website provides a thorough insight into the subject, both on political implications and on practical demining methods and new technologies. The existence of landmines in public spaces is one of the cruelest aftermaths of […]

Management and Organization

To ensure the efficiency and quality of a relief programme, aid organizations act according to a carefully developed procedure. The common standards applying to all areas of relief work are elaborated by the Sphereproject. The basic principles that must function in order to ensure the quality of a relief programme concern the staff, the continuous […]

Mental and Social Care

To enhance the psychosocial well-being of people affected by disaster certain standards should be followed in managing the aftermath of a disaster or a refugee camp. These standards are thoroughly described by the Sphereproject. General means of stabilizing the social situation in the camp and of providing psychological and psychiatric care are to be differentiated […]

INEE Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies

Alike the Sphereproject for other sectors, the INEE has formulated minimum standards for education in emergencies which comply and relate to guidelines of Sphere. Facilitating educational activities are an important part of relief work as they provide structure of everyday life, offering the affected population a sense of return to normalcy, of stability, of life […]

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a phenomenon related both to a shortage in food security and to medical issues. Its occurrence is often but not always related to food shortage. The persons affected are to be perceived as being in need not only of food but of medical supervision, attendance and care. The phenomenon of malnutrition and procedures […]

Healthcare

The right to health is a basic human right embodied in various international legal constitutions. This right includes, not only, access to a healthcare system, but also access to other determinants of health – nutrition, water and sanitation, housing, safe environmental conditions, health-related education, non-discrimination and life in human dignity. Health impacts of disasters: Direct: […]

Food Security and Food Aid

The issues of security, food aid and malnutrition make a complex system of intertwined aspects. Food security deals with the right and the physical and economic access of human beings to food, not only dependent on supply but also on employment, income, political and social implications. Procedures undertaken to assess problems of food insecurity are […]