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Feel-good stories of humanity

Give yourself a lift with these heart-warming tales from around the globe.

Friday 12 October is the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. We’re marking it with four stories that celebrate how people help each other cope with disaster. 

Every day, people around the world are helping each other. It’s an instinct that shines through humanity time and time again. If you need a little reminder about the good in the world, check out these feel-good stories. You can also submit your own.

Finding hope amongst the horror


Photo: Aaron Favila/AP

Two weeks ago, Yaya went to Palu beach with his wife and four children for a family celebration. They planned to watch the sunset at a festival. Then the tsunami struck. For a week people were sifting through the rubble to find survivors - Yaya hardly slept while he was looking for his family, expecting that he’d lost them all. One morning, he found his wife’s body and started to prepare her funeral when there was a knock at the door. It was his nine-year-old daughter, Sucina. In an incredible stroke of fate, Sucina was plucked out of the tsunami waves in the dark by a stranger. Yaya now hopes for another miracle. See more »

Husband’s search for wife brings him a miracle


Photo: BBC

It’s always heart-warming to hear when people discover their loved ones when they think they have lost everything. It can also be a harrowing ordeal to search for them. Dewi and Azwan recount their experience of the tsunami in Palu and the moment they reunited. See more »

Feeling good? Pass it on

If you want some inspiration on how you can do something good, check out our how-to guide.

I want to do something good

Farmers band together to get through drought

Farming is in Adam’s blood, and he wants to make sure Aussie farmers can keep doing the work they love. The drought is hurting though. “We’ve got young farmers in this area too, and we all talk and try and keep each other’s spirits up, tell each other what a good job they’re all doing,” he says. The Australian community has rallied behind its farmers and your donations are helping families make ends meet.  See more »

Look out for your neighbours during a disaster

Photo: IFRC

Combine neighbourly kindness with social media, and help can come quick. Typhoon Mangkut hit the Philippines last month, causing deadly landslides in two gold mining towns. Nearby school teacher Rebecca Clave turned to Facebook to see if she could help her neighbours. “We got donations from teachers and friends of blankets, bottled water, canned goods and jackets,” she said. A Red Cross team drove her and her seven-year-old daughter to their evacuation centre, so they could distribute the relief items to women and children who had fled the disaster. See more »

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