Logistics advisor Graham Woodcock in front of a loaded Concern truck with supplies for distribution in La Gonave, Haiti. Photo: Kristin Myers / Concern Worldwide.

Emergencies

Why emergencies? Many of the countries in which we work are highly vulnerable to emergencies and shocks as a result of conflict and natural disasters. These vulnerabilities are unfortunately likely to increase in coming years as the effects of climate change worsen.

Our goal is to respond rapidly to save lives and reduce suffering and this is exactly what we do. In an emergency situation, we act quickly to save lives. Once the immediate crisis has passed, we remain on the ground helping to rebuild livelihoods and infrastructure so that communities are better prepared for future crises. Additionally, we advocate for changes in the way the world responds to emergency situations.

A Concern distribution of tarpaulins to displaced families in Katale, Masisi, DRC. Photo: Kieran McConville / Concern Worldwide.

A burial team prays before they collect a corpse in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo: Michael Duff / Concern Worldwide.

Concern staff member Amani Sahmarani distributes emergency supplies in Lebanon. Photo: Concern Worldwide.

Concern teams reaching isolated communities in Masisi, DRC. Photo: Kieran McConville/ Concern Worldwide.

Members of the Concern emergency response team at Hakim Para refugee camp. Photo: Kieran McConville / Concern Worldwide.

A closer look at our emergency programmes

We aim to contribute to lasting improvements in the lives of the extreme poor through the implementation of rapid responding, risk reduction and community resilient programmes. Here we spotlight three of our approaches.

Rapid emergency response

One of the main objectives of our emergency programme is to respond rapidly to emergencies in order to save lives and reduce suffering. For example, by March 2017 drought and conflict had left nearly 23 million people in South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. We expanded our emergency response in these countries to directly assist 1.5 million people in the most vulnerable communities.

In Bangladesh, our rapid scale-up during the influx of an estimated 671,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing conflict in Myanmar demonstrated the flexibility and agility of our systems in coping with the sudden arrival of an unprecedented number of refugees. In Cox’s Bazar district, we screened over 61,000 children under five years old for malnutrition, and provided therapeutic feeding for around 2,700 severely malnourished children. We also provided health, nutrition and counselling services to over 13,000 women.

Disaster risk reduction