Our activities throughout the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia region primarily started with relief activities. In Armenia the program started after the devastating earthquake in Gyumri in1988. Now we run a range of community development programs and advocate for vulnerable groups, including children with special needs.
Our activities in the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East started after conflicts and war. The region as a whole is earthquake and conflict prone, which emphasises the necessity for us to be ready to respond in cases of disaster. In the last decade for example, we responded to the Kosovo-crisis, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the earthquake in Turkey, the war in Lebanon and the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. We are still active in most of these areas.. As was carried out in Afghanistan, we will deliver aid to the people of Iraq as soon as the situation is secure.

World Vision responds to humanitarian needs caused by major disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, famines or wars. In the case of a major emergency, World Vision mobilises rapid response teams of specially trained staff, who begin relief and recovery operations on site within the first hours of the disaster. This was evident in our response to the victims of drought and war in Afghanistan. Furthermore, each national World Vision office has Initial Disaster Response Plans in place to respond effectively to smaller scale emergencies, such as regional floods, earthquakes and other human or natural disasters.

Emergency food, shelter and clothing, however, are only short-term measures. World Vision seeks to move disaster victims from relief to recovery and rehabilitation as soon as possible. After the initial delivery of emergency supplies come the seeds, tools, small loans, and technical advice. World Vision's objective is to help disaster victims rebuild their lives and their communities so that they can sustain themselves.

In September 2001 World Vision launched a major relief effort in Central Asia to help meet the needs of some 7.5 million Afghans at risk of starvation as a result of three years of drought, two decades of war and the military campaign against terrorism. Afghanistan had the world's highest infant mortality rate and the lowest per capita food consumption.

In conjunction with UNICEF and the World Food Programme, World Vision began a nutritional feeding program for more than 500,000 Afghans displaced in the Herat area. The program concentrated on children and pregnant or breast-feeding mothers. Meanwhile, World Vision trucked container loads of shelter materials, water containers, winter clothing and blankets into western Afghanistan.

Our activities in given situations are determined by relief and coordination plans and what specific roles are assigned to us. We have many areas of expertise and at present, operate programs in the following sectors:

• Food and distribution of other relief items
  
• Food security
  
• Refugee and IDP assistance
  
• (Basic) healthcare
  
• Trauma counseling of children
  
• Water and sanitation
  
• Education
  
• Reconstruction