Overview
Finding shelter is an essential aspect of human survival. On a
harsh desert plain, in tropical heat, in freezing snow or
torrential rain, something as simple as a plastic tarpaulin, a
canvas tent or blanket can mean the difference between refugees
surviving or dying because of exposure and disease.
With many refugee populations living in extreme climates,
providing emergency shelter is a priority for UNHCR. Families
living in the open, under a thorn bush in eastern Chad for example,
are highly prone to violence and are more vulnerable to dehydration
and insect borne disease.
How we help
UNHCR is a world leader in the provision of mass emergency
shelter. Appointed the lead Agency for shelter relief in many
crises and disasters, we have managed to get hundreds of thousands
of vulnerable families under cover. Our emergency response teams
often include site planners, camp management experts and civil
engineers.
Shelter needs of refugees can vary. This is just an example of how
UNHCR Shelter Program helps in times of crisis:
- During the floods in Pakistan, we provided 76,000 tents and
209,000 plastic sheets to shelter 1.4 million people.
- During the bitter Georgian winter, we provided displaced
families with simple folding beds to keep them off the freezing
ground.
- In places like Afghanistan for example, UNHCR provides building
kits for returning refugees, enabling them to rebuild their lives
back home.
Donate now to
provide urgent relief for a refugee family in
crisis.
News
AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR's Afghanistan shelter programme tops 200,000 homes mark - 14 December 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan, December 14 (UNHCR) – UNHCR's shelter programme in Afghanistan reached a new milestone this week with the completion of the 200,000th home for a returnee family.
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KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR completes Kyrgyzstan shelter program in time for winter - 3 December 2010
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, December 3 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has wrapped up its emergency shelter programme in southern Kyrgyzstan after providing temporary homes for the more than 13,400 people whose houses were damaged or destroyed during June's violence there.
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KYRGYZSTAN: UNHCR shelter program helps displaced in Southern Kyrgyzstan - 23 November 2010
Almost 2,000 private homes were destroyed and some 1,690 completely destroyed during the violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan in June of this year. But over the past month, almost 3,500 people have moved back into homes built or rebuilt with UNHCR funding as part of an emergency transitional shelter program.
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PAKISTAN: Shelter being airlifted to remote areas of Pakistan's Swat ahead of winter - 21 September 2010
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 21 September 2010, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
UNHCR is this week airlifting shelter supplies to the remote and high altitude area of Utror in northwest Pakistan's Kalam Tehsil. The aim is to get warm shelter to flood victims in Upper Swat before winter. The first snows in this area are expected in about a month.
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DARFUR: Civilians still in the firing line in Darfur - 1 June 2010
Sudanese Government-sponsored attacks against civilians continue in Darfur, with thousands of people freshly displaced from their villages and sexual violence against women also widespread, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Security Council today as he called for tougher action to improve the situation in the war-wracked region.
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