Types of Emergencies
The type of emergency will determine the nature and scale of the Save the Children’s response:
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Sri Lanka - A woman hands out aid to victims of December's tsunami. |
Sudden-Onset Emergency — earthquakes, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, cyclones, industrial accidents, and war or political reprisals.
Slow-Onset Emergency — drought, desertification, deforestation, pest infestations, epidemics, pandemics, and war or political reprisals.
Complex Emergency — war, internal and external dislocation, famine, and civil breakdown.
Who is At-Risk During an Emergency?
Save the Children believes in the right of everyone to receive aid in an emergency, based on need. Save the Children realizes that women and children face disproportionate risks in emergencies, such as forcible displacement and human rights violations, and plans our emergency responses around meeting the immediate needs of these women and children. In emergencies, all children are particularly vulnerable to being separated from family, recruited into armed forces, exploited sexually and made victims of gender-based violence, such as rape. Groups particularly at-risk during an emergency are disabled children, child combatants, gender-based violence survivors, adolescents, out-of-school youth, unaccompanied minors and orphans.
Risk Reduction and Emergency Preparedness
The most effective way to reduce an emergency’s affect on a community is to encourage communities to prepare for one in advance. Emergency preparedness or community-based early warning systems allow the communities and Save the Children staff to plan ahead of time how emergencies will be mitigated and managed locally. Save the Children is committed to building the capacity of its Field Offices, local partners and communities to effectively meet the needs of those affected by an emergency through an organized Emergency Preparedness Plan.
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From Relief to Development
Save the Children recognizes that while emergencies eventually come to an end, our work in affected communities does not. Save the Children builds upon the work accomplished during the emergency to continue rebuild the social and economic infrastructure after a crisis has stabilized. This includes the rehabilitation of basic services especially relevant for children and women, principally health and education. Save the Children also continues developing expertise in livelihood interventions and income-earning opportunities to begin to lay the foundations for recovery and development.
You can help Save the Children respond to emergencies that put at great risk the survival, protection, and well-being of significant numbers of children. By contributing to the Children’s Emergency Fund, you enable us to respond immediately to children and families who urgently need our help when disasters strike.
