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ERT when disaster strikes

When disaster strikes, UNHCR is there, on the ground, saving lives within 72 hours. Help us be there every time.



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10 Years In Review Emergency response

UNHCR aims to mobilise emergency response teams, supplies and equipment within 72 hours to any corner of the world to cover the immediate needs of up to 500,000 people. UNHCR is increasingly asked to respond to natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and the Myanmar cyclone. Warehouses around the world stocked with emergency relief items and standby teams enable UNHCR to respond to such disasters within hours. UNHCR also plays a key coordinating role, taking the lead in emergency protection and shelter.

In 2009 alone, UNHCR responded to more than 40 crises. Australian donors have helped provide emergency shelter, food and medical care in all leading crises over the last decade, including the Pakistan earthquake, the Kenya floods as well as conflicts in the DRC, Sri Lanka, Chad, Iraq and Somalia.

UNHCR’s emergency preparedness ensures we can respond to any disaster within 72 hours, anywhere in the world.UNHCR’s Emergency Response Team load a helicopter with emergency relief items within 72 hours of the devastating earthquake in Pakistan.UNHCR staff assist those affected by the cyclone in Myanmar to assemble temporary shelters to protect them from the elements.UNHCR has many relief warehouses around the world that that aid can be delivered within 72 hours of a crisis striking.UNHCR tents and blankets are stacked for loading with relief items in Turkey on the way to Pakistan following the earthquake.Earthquake survivors at the Bella Noor Shah camp, Pakistan, receive UNHCR blankets and plastic sheets as part of the winterisation drive. UNHCR/B. Baloch