Australians supporting the UN Refugee Agency

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Shelter Program

Finding shelter is an essential aspect of human survival. UNHCR shelters refugees at every stage of their ordeal. Learn more about our Shelter Program!



Shelter and camp management

UNHCR is the lead agency for emergency shelter and camp management. Read more about what we are doing.



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10 Years In Review Shelter

Shelter is one of the most critical things UNHCR provides to refugees at every stage of their journey, from emergency shelter such as plastic sheeting and all-season tents in long-term camps, to durable materials for shelter kits distributed to returning refugee families. Following the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Australian donors helped provide more than 800 shelter kits to returning Afghans.

Donors have also helped support UNHCR's shelter programs during emergencies such as the Asian tsunami, the Myanmar cyclone and the China earthquake as well as providing shelter support to returnees in South Sudan, Burundi and for the Rohingya community in Bangladesh.

Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya. This camp was initially built for 90,000 but is now home to over 300,000 people. UNHCR has tents to give to the new arrivals but no land as the camps are already filled to capacity. Many of the new arrivals construct makeshift shelters at the edge of the camps. UNHCR/E.HocksteinA woman sits in the stick frame of her newly constructed home in a camp for internally displaced people, Puntland, Somalia. UNHCR/A.WebsterNorth West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The race to provide shelter and supplies to earthquake survivors before the freezing winter set in was intense. By mid-November, UNHCR had provided a total of 19,356 tents, 152,325 blankets, 71,395 plastic sheets and tens of thousands of jerry cans, kitchen sets along with more general other supplies. UNHCR/M.PearsonIndonesia: In the aftermath of the 2004 Asian Tsunami UNHCR mounted a massive relief operation for some 100,000 survivors. Providing shelter was one of the most immediate concerns.A returnee and his son rebuild their home in Afghanistan which was destroyed by the Taliban. UNHCR has been helping Afghans settle back home with repatriation packages, shelter kits, mine-awareness training and vaccination programs. UNHCR/N.BehringMore than 30,000 people fled Togo to seek security in neighbouring countries when violence erupted in April 2005. UNHCR provided food and relief items, and built shelter.