Disaster Response

Thank you for your interest in Habitat for Humanity’s Disaster Response program. Every year, natural disasters, war and civil unrest displace millions of people around the world from their homes.

Through Habitat’s Disaster Response, and with the help of volunteers and donors like you, we are able to provide shelter assistance, education, training and partnerships to the affected individuals who find themselves in unthinkable situations.

When a disaster strikes, the loss of a home can leave you at your most vulnerable. Habitat works to rebuild communities in these circumstances, moving them from ruin to recovery.

We focus our response in several ways:

Housing needs arising from natural disasters and emergency conflicts, including sustainable shelter and housing solutions.
Education, training and partnership solutions to those in need of our relief services.
Expertise in technical information, program design and implementation, and disaster response policies, protocols and procedures.
Preventative support and information for disaster-prone areas.
Year-round preparedness efforts to ensure we are ready when something happens.

The most basic needs become both scarce and dire in the event of an emergency: health, water, shelter, sanitation, livelihoods, safety and education, among others. We believe that safe, reliable shelter provides the foundation from which all of these things can begin to reemerge during the relief and rebuilding process.

Therefore, within our Disaster Response program, we have instituted the Pathways to Permanence strategy. This blueprint allows us to guide individuals and families through the necessary steps in taking back more control of their living situation following a tragedy, including erecting an emergency shelter, accessing or affirming land rights, improving a transitional shelter solution, defining next steps for a disaster damaged house or expanding a new housing solution. You can read more about Pathways to Permanence in our stories section.

It is also crucial in these emergency situations that various organizations are working together rather than separately. Habitat has over 30 years of experience in community-based development, and takes a partnership approach to disaster response by holding memberships within National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters and InterAction, and coordinates globally through The Inter-Agency Standing Committee cluster system.

Fortunately, most of us will never experience this kind of aftermath ourselves. However, we need ready and able hands to help us respond when the need arises. Please consider joining us in work that brings stability to displaced people. Through caring and hard-working volunteers and the generosity of donors, we are able to exponentially increase our efforts when it counts the most.