The United Nations is warning that more than half a million people are in need of emergency assistance after storms Fay, Gustav and Hanna battered the island of Haiti. Church and development groups are responding with urgent aid.

Global church development agencies, including the UK-based Christian Aid, are calling on the international community and the Burmese government to use all available means to help those affected by cyclone Nargis.

In the face of growing political instability and desperate food shortages in Zimbabwe, The Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) is supporting an appeal through ACT International (Action by Churches Together) that will distribute emergency food supplies to vulnerable households.

As churches from around the world gear up to respond to the Southern Africa flood emergency, the Methodist Church in Britain is sending a solidarity grant of £30,000 to provide support for the victims of the disaster.

The year has not begun well for Afghanistan, with suicide bombings, fears of a deteriorating security situation and reports of an increased presence by Taliban forces throughout the country, say church-based relief agencies.

As part of a global coalition of church bodies, Christian Aid is working with the UN to assess the needs of the people of East Africa's Great Lakes region after it was struck by a major earthquake leaving 39 people dead.

Churches in Bangladesh have launched a massive relief effort, with support from international partners and agencies, for victims of the devastating cyclone that has claimed thousands of lives along the country's southwestern coast.

Church and development organisations across Africa say the extreme rainfall experienced by the continent this summer is the worst in decades and is having a devastating impact on the food supply. They are warning that immediate action is needed.

Evacuations from coastal areas have begun in earnest, as a ‘potentially catastrophic’ hurricane threatens Central America. Church and development agencies have been working with local emergency committees to help communities create shelters.

Christian Aid is sending £50,000 to local partner organisations in Ica, one of the regions most badly affected by the 8.0 magnitude quake which struck off the coast of Peru on 15 August 2007, claiming 500 lives and leaving thousands homeless.