Colombia Missions

A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Southern Turkey and Syria early February 6th. Thousands are expected to have lost their lives, with countless more injured.

On January 28, a 75 unit apartment complex in Miami Gardens suffered major devastation due to a fire. More than half the units are completely destroyed, with the remainder being inhabitable due to extreme fire, smoke, and water damage.

Extreme rain throughout California left over 8 million residents under flood watch. After many areas of the state received over half their annual rainfall since just December 26th, flooding, mudslides, and extreme winds were all risks being faced.

On November 21st, on the Java island, a powerful earthquake struck. The 6.9 magnitude disaster hit near the major city of Cianjur, destroying thousands of buildings and causing heavy landslides.

Hurricane Lisa intensified into the Caribbean waters, and made landfall in Belize in northern Guatemala. GEM responded immediately by deploying a team & sending containers.

On September 24, 2022 CAT4 Hurricane Ian caused catastrophic damage along the SW coast of Florida leaving thousands of survivors devasted.GEM Bstrong, in partnership with Dade County, deployed teams, loaded trucks and established partnerships in the areas affected.

On September 18,2022, Hurricane Fiona causing catastrophic flooding and power outages in various municipalities in Puerto Rico. GEM BStrong, alongside our longtime partner #Yonomequito, have been on the ground providing family necessity kits and water.

On June 14 2022, monsoon rains triggered the most severe flooding in Pakistan’s recent history. Over one third of Pakistan was under water; tens of millions of residents have been affected, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes.

In late July, with 100’s of structures destroyed and at least four-related deaths the Oak Fire and McKinney Fire burn throughout California.

Severe flooding across eastern Kentucky caused 40 deaths. Homes destroyed and roads washed out, leaving communities isolated.

The total number of wildfires in the European Union since the beginning of 2022 is almost four times the 15-year average for the same time period.

On May 24, 2022, a gunman fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers and wounded many others at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Over 1,000 firefighters backed by bulldozers and aircraft battled the largest active wildfire in the U.S. on Saturday after strong winds pushed it across some containment lines.

On April 29th a tornado that damaged more than 1,000 buildings in south-central Kansas generated winds up to 165 mph (266 kph) and carved a path of destruction nearly 13 miles (21 kilometers)

Our teams are on the ground in Medyka, Poland at the Ukraine border -meeting with Ukrainian partners to establish support plans.

On January 9, 2022, a malfunctioning space heater was the source of an apartment building fire in the Bronx that killed 17 people including eight children, making it one of the worst fires in the city

On December 10, 2021 in the night a violent, long tracked tornado caused severe damage accross parts of central and southern United States including Kentucky impacting numerous towns, including Mayfield, Princeton, Dawson Springs, and Bremen with a death toll exceeding 70.

On November 5th, 2021 a crowd surge at a Houston music festival turned into a deadly tragedy, with eight killed and many injured.

Due to the latest circumstances, homelessness in the United States has dramatically increased and as of 2021 there are currently 552,830 estimated to be homeless.

On August 26, 2021, late afternoon, the National Hurricane Center issued hurricane warnings for parts of coastal Louisiana including New Orleans. A Category 4 storm impacted the communities causing significant flooding reported.

a 7.2 then this 52,953 houses were destroyed and 62,862 houses were damaged in the three most affected departments (South, Grand’Anse and Nippes).

On July 13 – October 25 2021 The Dixie and Caldor Fire was an enormous wildfire impacting seveal counties in California. The fire roared through entire towns such as Greenville and leaving hundreds of people stranded and homeless.

On June 24, 2021, at approximately 1:30 a.m. EDT, Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium building in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, United States, partially collapsed.

From May 20 to June 15, severe flooding across Guyana affected over 25,000 people. Leaving thousands in shelters with their total belongings and homes destroyed.

The India variant – officially called B.1.617.2 – is one of four mutated versions of coronavirus which have been designated as being “of serious concern”.

The eruption Friday of La Soufrière — its first large one since 1979 — transformed the island’s lush towns and villages into gloomy and gray.

At least five people are dead and there are reports of multiple injuries, authorities said, as tornadoes tore through Alabama Thursday afternoon.

On February 13 2021 Millions of Texans were without heat and electricity for days as snow, ice and frigid temperatures caused a catastrophic failure of the state’s power grid.

On January 16, 2021 a fire destroyed Tuluksak’s only source of clean, running water in this Alaskan tribal community.

On October 31, 2020, the category 4 hurricane ETA hit Central America devastating the region – reporting 57 dead & hundreds missing. On November 16, another Cat 5 hurricane, Iota ravaged the region.

CalFire has reported that California has lost 3.1 million acres, or about 4,844 sq miles (12,546 sq km), to wildfires since the beginning of this year. There are currently 29 major fires burning.

Wildfires have burned 1,500,000 acres of forest and numerous historic communities leaving entire towns in ashes causing over 500,000 people to evacuate with an ever-growing list of missing persons.

On September 9, 2020 a huge fire ripped through a massively overcrowded refugee camp in the Greek island of Lesbos. This caused over 13,000 people seeking asylum to be without shelter.

The 2020 hurricane season is ravaging the Gulf Coast. Tropical Storm Cristobal, Hurricanes Marco, Laura, Sally and impending Hurricane Delta have caused $15B+ in damages disrupting millions of lives.

On August 4, 2020, two explosions occurred in the city of Beirut, Lebanon. The explosions caused 177 deaths, 6,000 injuries, and billions in property damage, leaving 300,000 people homeless.

On May 26, 2020, an ongoing series of civil unrest protests began across the U.S. that caused businesses to close and impacted local economies to a collective $500 million loss.

In January 2020, the COVID‑19 pandemic began in the United States and is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

On March 3, 2020, a deadly tornado outbreak affected West and Middle Tennessee, becoming the 6th costliest tornado in US history, and another that impacted areas in the western part of Cookeville.

On December 28, 2019, the southwestern part of the island of Puerto Rico was struck by an earthquake swarm of magnitudes up to 6.4, causing deaths and injuries.

In June 2019, over 18 million hectares burned, destroying over 5,900 buildings and 2,800 homes in Australia. In addition to human fatalities, millions of animals were killed.

On August 24, 2019, the Category 5 Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas, and was the worst natural disaster in the country’s history with wind speeds of 183 mph and $3.4 billion+ reported damages.

In 2019, the Amazon wildfires season saw a surge in fires with more than 906,000 affected hectares occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru.

On March 4, tropical cyclones affected Africa causing catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, with 1,300 deaths/missing people, and $2.2billion in damages.

In 2019, the Venezuelan migration and refugee crisis, the largest refugee crisis in the Americas, is the emigration of 4.6million Venezuelans who fled the country because of the Bolivarian Revolution.

In 2018, the wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive ever recorded in California. More than 7,639 fires burned an area of 1,893,913 acres causing more than $3.5 billion in damage.

In October 2018, Hurricane Willa brought torrential rains and destructive winds to southwestern Mexico, in Sinaloa and Nayarit. Six fatalities and substantial property damage were reported.

On October 7, 2018, Hurricane Michael became the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the contiguous United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 causing $25.5 billion in damage.

On August 31, 2018, Hurricane Florence was a powerful and long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that caused catastrophic damage in the Carolina, as a result of freshwater flooding due to torrential rain.