In 2006, as genocidal violence in Sudan's Darfur region spilled into neighbouring Chad, I spent several weeks with an Amnesty International research team travelling along the Chadian side of that troubled border, documenting the impact of a string of brutal attacks against isolated villages that had left a macabre trail of death, destruction, and fear. This part of eastern Chad is arid and barren, with rocky, hard-packed earth, shifting sands, gnarled trees, and scrappy bush.
More rain and wind were forecast Wednesday along the Alaska coast where two tiny villages were decimated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong and officials were scrambling to find shelter for more than 1,500 people driven from their homes. The weekend storm brought high winds and surf that battered the low-lying Alaska Native communities along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the south-western part of the state, nearly 500 miles (800km) from Anchorage. At least one person was killed and two were missing.
We are seeing more people every day from the north with blast and bullet injuries, with old, dirty and infected wounds, said Dr Martin Griffiths, a consultant trauma surgeon at Barts NHS health trust in London who arrived as a volunteer in Gaza two weeks ago. Every one is hungry, malnourished, has lost their home and loved ones, and every one is scared. We have not got enough of anything.
