Emergency Relief & Rehabilitation

CARE's Emergency Relief Work

Emergency relief is a vital part of CARE's work to create lasting solutions to poverty. Many poor communities in the developing world lack the basic resources to cope with the struggles of everyday life. When disaster strikes, that struggle becomes all but impossible without assistance.

CARE's mission has expanded greatly since our founding as a relief organization in the wake of World War II. But we remain a world leader in providing lifesaving assistance, as well as the tools for long-term rehabilitation, to survivors of natural disasters, armed conflict and other emergencies.

Our Emergency and Humanitarian Assistance Unit (EHAU) helps communities create plans to deal with emergencies and works to ensure they receive food, water, shelter, healthcare and other emergency relief supplies when they need them most. In addition, CARE helps communities recover and rebuild after disaster strikes.

In 2010, CARE's emergency response and recovery programs reached more than 4.5 million people in 37 countries. Learn more >

Learn More and Get Involved!

Niger

A catastrophic combination of a failed harvest, regional instability and soaring food prices has left nearly 10 million people at risk of hunger in the Sahel region of West Africa.

Horn of Africa

The worst humanitarian crisis in the world today continues to escalate in the Horn of Africa, where 12.4 million people are now in acute need of food assistance. CARE and other humanitarian agencies are working around the clock to respond, as a United Nations declaration of famine in parts of southern Somalia underscores the urgency of the situation.

Cote d'Ivoire

In the wake of the November elections in Cote d'Ivoire, horrendous violence was committed by all sides. More than 3,000 people were killed, countless homes were burned to the ground, and today roughly 360,000 people remain displaced.

Haiti

CARE, with your help, reached more than 290,000 people in those first three months, with emergency relief such as water, tarps, mattresses, blankets, birth kits, kitchen sets, hygiene kits and food.

Japan

Blog posts by the CARE emergency team in Northern Japan documenting the catastrophic disaster that triggered devastating tsunami waves which caused extensive and severe damage in northern Japan.

Sex & Age Matter

This study by the Feinstein International Center shows us clearly that the humanitarian community has not invested enough in collecting and using sex and age disaggregated data to inform our programming. We do not know the differing needs of people affected by emergencies, and so we don’t know if we have met them. From Haiti to Pakistan, case studies have demonstrated that not collecting sex and age disaggregated data puts the lives and livelihoods of different groups of people at risk.