Humanitarian Relief 

Disasters are exceptional situations. When the life of human beings is in jeopardy, then everything else must wait. What counts then is to save lives and to avert danger. After an earthquake, survivors must be rescued. A malnourished child threatened by hunger must receive milk and nutritious food rich in vitamins. A person injured through bullets during an armed conflict must be treated medically.

However, humanitarian relief is not limited to immediate and life-saving measures. Survivors, displaced persons, famine-prone and homeless people must be looked after, cared for, fed, and sheltered. This is another aspect of humanitarian relief – often a more long-term task. The wounded must recover, refugees be taken back to their homeland, destroyed houses rebuilt etc. There are a good number of tasks that are not part of immediate emergency relief.

Another important areas is disaster prevention which is to enable people to react to threats of their environment, in order to avoid the disaster. But people’s vulnerability to natural or other disasters can only be reduced through a multiplicity of measures. Among them are: making potable water available, installing an irrigation system to improve agricultural crops, or improving animal husbandry. Schools and health clinics must be built, teachers and nurses trained. There is a gradual transition from short- term and medium-term relief measures to long-term development co-operation.

Below you’ll find information about a research initiative to prevent corruption in humanitarian relief in which World Vision participated:

Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Assistance

To learn about protecting children in post-disaster situations, click here.

Here, you’ll find further information and background material regarding humanitarian relief:

Germany's Relief Coalition "Aktion Deutschland Hilft"