Concern's Emergency Operations Director, Ros O'Sullivan (right) consulting with local partners in northwest Syria.

Emergencies

Why emergencies? Many of the countries we work in are susceptible to frequent natural disasters and outbreaks of conflict, resulting in already vulnerable people losing their homes and livelihoods.

In the immediate aftermath of an emergency, we provide life-saving support to families and communities. We then stay to help them get back on their feet, rebuilding livelihoods and infrastructure and working to reduce the risk and impact of future crises.

Our key focuses are:

Respond rapidly in order to save lives and reduce suffering
Improve access to food, healthcare and water
Prevent and reduce the impact of emergencies

Concern distributing supplies in earthquake-struck Turkiye

Concern continues to provide assistance, distributing latrines and NFI, to vulnerable people affected by the devastating earthquake in Malatya region. Photo: Concern Worldwide

Concern staff holding in front of airplane carrying aid

Emergency relief supplies, donated by Irish Aid, being unloaded and sorted at Adana Airport in Türkiye. for distribution to earthquake-affected communities. Photo: Yasin Almaz/Concern Worldwide

Lamyaa Abod of Concern Türkiye with Ileaf, both giving thumbs up

Lamyaa Abod of Concern Türkiye with Ileaf, a Syrian woman whose family was left homeless by the February 6th earthquake. Photo: Kieran McConville/Concern Worldwide

Young Ukrainian girl waiting on train to cross border

Yana* (11) standing on the platform at Lviv train station, waiting to board a train to the Polish border. Photo: Stefanie Glinski/Concern Worldwide

Man standing among damage caused by Pakistan floods

Dalio standing among the devastation left behind by the floods in Mirpur Khas district of Sindh. Photo: Ingenious Captures/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, Concern launched its programme in Yemen in 2024 to meet the most urgent needs of the most vulnerable people. In our first year of operation we supported six health units, facilitating integrated health and nutrition services for over 29,400 people.

Disaster risk reduction

Community resilience