Oxfam has committed $1.55 million to this initial response. It is also preparing for longer-term projects such as helping to rebuild damaged infrastructure.

Oxfam colleagues based in the neighboring province of Yunnan are now traveling to Wenchuan County in Sichuan, the epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude quake, for assessment and coordination of the relief work. The organization is also planning to provide assistance in Gansu Province where it had been working on development projects prior to the disaster.

Based on our communication with local organizations in the affected areas, our initial assessment is that earthquake survivors need clean water, food, medicine, clothing, and blankets. We also anticipate that there will be a huge need for rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance. Damage to infrastructure and other facilities is significant and Oxfam expects it will take months for the region to recover.

"This is the worst earthquake in 30 years, with a huge impact on people's livelihoods," said John Sayer, director general of Oxfam Hong Kong. "With over 20 years of experience working in China on long-term development work and emergency relief, Oxfam Hong Kong is determined to help as quickly as possible, to guarantee people's safety in the short term, and in the end, as a long-term goal, to improve their livelihoods."

For villagers in Mindanao, once known as the food basket of the Philippines, extreme heat, droughts and flash flooding are now annual occurrences. They used to enjoy three planting seasons a year, generating bountiful crops from their fertile soil. Now, villagers are battling regular pest infestations and unpredictable weather, malnutrition is rising, and some villagers are forced to survive on bananas.

The worst crisis so far was the 1997 El Niño, which lasted for nine months. The temperature soared, plants dried, land cracked, and clean water sources were threatened. People left their villages.

In the village of Sepaka, last year's drought lasted for six months. All the crops failed and some farmers only managed to produce one sack of rice. In a good season, one hectare yields an average of 70 sacks of rice.

This year the farmers face an added crisis: many of the rice fields have turned black and dried up because of an infestation of black rice bugs. Nobody knows where the bugs come from, or why. All the villagers know is that they face food shortages again within the next six months. The people of Sepaka are desperate because they do not have staple foods.

One villager has decided to find a new way to survive in the face of a changing climate. He is Rasid Naim, 28 years old, from a family of farmers of rice and corn. In 2004, Rasid started to volunteer for Oxfam's operational project and received training in organic farming techniques. He applied these techniques to his father's hectare of land and soon found he was making huge savings by mixing his own pesticides and fertilizers instead of buying synthetic ones. He was able to pay his previous debts to traders and buy an additional 1.5 hectares of land, which is now an organic farm too.

At first, Rasid's fellow farmers teased him that his new approaches would not withstand the threats from insects and pests. But they did, and his success in organic farming has convinced 18 more farmers to shift from chemical-dependent to natural and organic practices. His experience proves that his own rice field withstood not only rice farm pests, but also intense flash floods and recurring droughts. Now Rasid is experimenting with an organic pesticide against the deadly black bugs.

It is still early days, but Rasid's work is just one of a myriad of grassroots adaptations to climate change that are already happening across the developing world. Rasid hopes for more support from the government for this kind of project.

"Organic farming frees us from poisonous substance from the chemicals found in the synthetic fertilisers and pesticides," says Rasid. "Our land is more fertile, our bodies are healthier, and we are happier that even the next generation, our children and grandchildren, can benefit from it."

Women's groups have also been created to generate income. One of their activities is making organic soap. They sell it to their neighbors and use their income to buy ingredients needed to make organic fertilizers.

"We need to save mother Earth," says Nor-aisa Iskak, one of the women fundraising to make organic fertilizers and pesticides.

Over a week in August, the river rose and this season's flood threat began. On Aug. 21, the swirling waters leapt over the banks at Thakhek, Mukdahahan, and Pakse in Lao PDR. The water continued to move closer to Cambodia, further downstream.

Last week, Oxfam America partner, Culture-Environment Preservation Association (CEPA), reported the water reaching emergency levels in Kratie province, Cambodia. Water levels were as high as 72 feet in some places. And, at one point, the Mekong was just three feet short of the flood warning level in Phnom Penh.

In Stung Treng province, officials issued flood warnings. About 250 acres of rice fields in Stung Treng were soaked in the flood water for more than a week. Farmers who depend on agriculture now fear losing their crops if the water takes much longer to recede.

Further along the river in Kompong Cham province, officials declared a state of emergency Aug. 20. Emergency workers set up sandbags along the river close to Kompong Cham town. Some families were evacuated to higher ground.

Oxfam project prevents unnecessary losses

Though Oxfam cannot deter the water, we hope to reduce losses through the Community Based Flood Preparedness Project. Three years ago Oxfam Great Britain, supported with funding from other Oxfam affiliates including Oxfam America, started the Community-Based Flood Preparedness Project in Takéo province.

Villagers were taught how to raise their homesteads by building up the ground above flood level. This way their lives and belongings can be safe at the time of flood and storm.

They received training in first aid and public health education.

And safety was made a top priority. Life jackets, water containers and water filters for safe drinking, family boats, and a shared safe evacuation area for five or six villages are now available.

Since most Cambodians living in the flood-risk provinces are subsistence farmers and fishers who live below the poverty line, those who do not prepare have little capacity to recover. The preparation project helps people live as normal a life as possible during the floods, said Sau Si Samuth, Oxfam humanitarian program officer.

For example, women in Takéo can use the family boats to collect water plants. "At two in the morning they take what they have gathered to the market. They cannot afford to be without this lifeline for one day. Oxfam supports these women to maintain their family boats. Wood is taken to the community where the carpenters fix it. For each tree cut down, new trees are planted," Sau Si Samuth said.

A Village Disaster Management Committee encouraged the communities to be prepared for the coming flood. At the time of flood, the committee again helped their own people prevent any accidents that might occur. Because of the relative success in this province, Oxfam and its partners, Care Cambodia, World Vision and the National Committee for Disaster Management have visited other parts to increase the range of the flood preparedness project in the future.

Oxfam already has an assessment team in place for this approaching flood. They closely track the water level in all the provinces along the Mekong River, and in other flooded areas in Cambodia. A situation report will be drafted to inform the wider Oxfam humanitarian team based in Bangkok and Oxford, other Oxfam affiliates, and donors. The National Commission for Disaster Management and interested NGOs will be consulted on plans to assist the affected communities if the need arises.

Once the rain stops in early October, the people living along the Mekong might sleep easier, without the threat of floods at the back of their minds. But at least now they are better prepared.

Amid cheers from a throng of enthusiastic supporters and international media, Make Trade Fair won the day.

Oxfam's trade campaign was launched.

Within hours of the Hong Kong debut, events were held in 25 cities including Brussels, Dublin, Geneva, Mexico City, San Salvador, and Washington, D.C. These events ranged from press conferences and symposiums to a rock concert in London’s Trafalgar Square.

Oxfam's trade campaign seeks to unite concerned citizens around the world in calling for fair trade policies that will help move millions of people out of poverty.

Nobel Prize Professor Amartya Sen, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and musician and social activist Bono were among those who endorsed the campaign. "Oxfam has got it right," said Bono. "It wouldn't cost much to change the rules of trade so that poor countries can work their way out of poverty. But the world's leaders won't act unless they hear enough people telling them."

Also in this issue of EXCHANGE, writers Frances and Anna Lappé discuss their book Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet, and we bring you updates on Oxfam's work with water and sanitation, drought in Ethiopia, and indigenous women in the highlands of Peru who are speaking out after decades of violence.