Red Cross

The disasters crippled communications and damaged roads — problems that are also complicating efforts to bring aid to the city of Palu and other affected areas.

It's a timely question in the wake of attacks on civilians, aid workers and hospitals. Here's a guide to their history and their content.

Trucks loaded with food people have entered Eastern Ghouta, but many medical supplies were blocked. Despite an ostensible "humanitarian corridor," shelling continued as the aid was being delivered.

The group has operated in the country for 30 years. The decision comes after an unprecedented attack on a physiotherapist in September.

Lorena Perez was a physiotherapist. On Monday, a patient in a wheelchair shot and killed her. The motive is not yet known.

Two weeks before Hurricane Harvey struck, monsoon rains swamped Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Aid groups are struggling to deal with both disasters.

Nearly 400 bodies have been recovered. The toll is likely to rise — the Red Cross says hundreds of people are still missing. A local morgue is struggling to cope with the sheer number of dead.

Hundreds remain unaccounted for after torrential rains near Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, caused a mountainside to collapse onto a residential community.

The head of the Red Cross orthopedic program wasn't sure a basketball team was a good idea. The players proved him wrong.

This week, armed men ambushed and killed the field workers in Afghanistan. Two others are missing. So far, no one knows who did it — or what the motive was.