Emergencies

When disaster strikes around the world, Oxfam and our partners move quickly to provide life-saving assistance to people in need. Then we stay for the long-term to rebuild lives and reduce the risk of future disasters.

15 million people desperately need help and rescue in flood-ravaged Pakistan. Photo: REUTERS/Adrees Latif, courtesy of alertnet.org

Pakistan floods 2010

Oxfam has launched an emergency response for the estimated 15 million people in Pakistan who have been affected by the worst floods in living memory. They desperately need shelter, clean water, food, medical care and sanitation facilities.


Oxfam's disaster response fund

Oxfam can only launch a rapid response to crisis and disasters around the world because we have funds ready. We still need funds to help us respond straight away to emergencies as they happen, and to continue our current work in 26 disasters worldwide.

Haiti earthquake response

Thanks to the overwhelming support of the public, Oxfam has enough money to fund our response to the Haiti earthquake for the next three to five years.

Six months on, Oxfam has already helped over 420,000 people, providing clean water, sanitation, shelter, seeds and running cash for work programmes. We plan to reach over 600,000 people.

West Africa Food Crisis

Children sharing a meal in Niger. Photo Aubrey Wade
Children sharing a meal of cooked bush leaves in Timbouloulag. Photo: Aubrey Wade

Irregular rains have led to a severe lack of pasture, water and a poor harvest in West Africa. Almost 10 million people are facing a food crisis. Oxfam is distributing food and supplies to the poorest households, protecting livestock and buying weak livestock from herders at above market levels.

Samoa Tsunami

Oxfam was in Samoa immediately following the tsunami in September 2009, to help distribute emergency relief materials including food, water and clothing.

Six months on, we are working with local water authorities to make sure people have safe water and sanitation facilities. We're also helping to rebuild livelihoods in rural communities.

Crisis in Darfur and Chad

Many young children have now grown up in the camps and are reaching their fifth birthdays, not knowing another way of life. Photo Credit: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam
Many children have grown up in camps, knowing no other way of life. Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam

The Darfur crisis remains one of the world's largest concentrations of human suffering. 2.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes, seeking refuge in vast, crowded camps in Darfur and across the border in Chad.

More than 4.5 million people have been affected by the conflict and depend on humanitarian assistance. Ongoing violence forces thousands more to flee every month. Yet aid workers in the region are finding it increasingly difficult and dangerous to reach the people in need.

Ongoing responses

Oxfam's work continues long after disaster strikes, including rebuilding livelihoods, conflict management and water and sanitation work.

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