Shelter is a critical determinant for survival in the initial stages of a disaster. Beyond survival, shelter is necessary for security and personal safety, protection from the elements and resistance to ill health and disease. The impact of a disaster such as an earthquake or a cyclone can result in the destruction of or damage to existing housing, rendering it uninhabitable, or force people to leave their existing housing and seek alternative shelter elsewhere in the case of floods or warnings of a hurricane.

It is increasingly being recognized that the meeting of shelter needs in the aftermath of disaster should be seen as a process of ‘sheltering’. The various needs of affected households for safety, privacy, protection from the climate and opportunities to commence or re-establish livelihood activities must be addressed through approaches that are appropriate to the specific context. Shelter solutions must also enable incremental upgrading by the households themselves as resources and opportunities permit. Sheltering, even when the needs are generated by natural disasters and other emergencies, goes beyond the immediate provision of basic shelter solutions and is closely associated with longer-term reconstruction as well as with measures to assist individuals, families and communities to re-establish themselves and resume ordinary life.

Shelter and settlement responses should support individual household or communal coping strategies and promote self-sufficiency and self-management where possible. Opportunities for affected households or communities to maintain or establish livelihood-support activities should be maximized.

Shelter assistance is provided to individual households for the repair or construction of dwellings or the settlement of displaced households within existing accommodation or communities. When it is not possible to provide individual shelter, collective shelter is provided in suitable large public buildings or structures, such as warehouses, halls or barracks, or in temporary planned or self-settled camps.

The type of shelter and settlement response to meet the needs of affected households will be informed by the nature and scale of the disaster and the impact on existing housing, the climate and the local environment, risks to security and personal safety, the political situation, the rural or urban context and the ability of the affected households or community to meet their own shelter needs. Consideration should also be given to the needs of those secondarily affected by the disaster, such as host families accommodating displaced households, or communities whose natural resources such as water, fodder or land are used temporarily to support those displaced.

Existing shelter and settlement solutions should be prioritized, that is, affected households remain in or return to the original site of their dwellings or are hosted by other families. Those that cannot return to the original site or be put up by host families should be accommodated in mass shelters or in temporary planned or self-settled camps. Many National Societies are responsible for managing the use of designated communal shelters or temporary collective centres.

Shelter assistance can comprise the provision of a limited quantity of materials such as plastic sheeting, fixings or tools to enable affected households to construct basic shelter, or the delivery of tents in cases where immediate shelter solutions are required. The provision of more permanent construction materials, such as metal roof sheeting, and complementary assets such as limited cash grants to enable the acquisition of additional materials or labour, should be considered where resources and opportunities permit. Any such response should be informed by the steps taken by the affected households in the immediate aftermath of the disaster using their own skills and resources, and should enable households to incrementally upgrade their dwellings themselves as resources permit.

Any material assistance should be complemented by the promotion of improved design, settlement planning and building techniques drawing upon local knowledge to reduce future vulnerabilities and to ensure the provision of safe, adequate and durable shelter to the extent possible.

The International Federation, through the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has a long history of responding to emergency shelter needs. It has delivered emergency shelter solutions across all regions of the world and is already one of the largest providers of emergency shelter amongst humanitarian actors. Since 2003, expenditure by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on sheltering activities has exceeded 300 million Swiss francs (US$ 240million). This significant institutional capability and experience requires further support to enable the scaling-up of sheltering activities in terms of both quality and quantity. As well as enhancing the provision of initial shelter assistance, the experience of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in providing transitional and permanent housing and the complementary risk reduction, recovery and water and sanitation activities also needs to inform the approach to shelter and shelter-related programming. The International Federation has established a new Shelter Department within its secretariat in Geneva – as well as the hosting of the Shelter Centre – to support such a process.

Recent large-scale natural disasters have highlighted the limited human resources in the shelter sector, differing understandings on shelter strategies and standards and, and inadequate access to the required tools, guidelines and technical resources. The UN sponsored Humanitarian Response Review identified a number of areas in which international humanitarian action could be improved, including shelter. Lessons learned from responses to recent disasters and recommendations from reviews of the International Federation programming and its institutional support for the sector have also indicated the need for greater investment in strategy and policy development, enhanced skills and capacity
and better preparedness.

The Global Agenda of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies commits it to reducing the impact of disasters, addressing vulnerabilities, enhancing local capacity to respond and promoting respect for diversity and human dignity. In accordance with this commitment, through The Shelter Appeal and the proposed activities, the International Federation and its membership will strengthen its capacities, resources and approach to the provision of shelter after disaster. Reflecting the broad understanding of shelter and the range of activities undertaken by Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, this will include improving the quality and effectiveness of the initial relief assistance, ensuring that recovery and risk reduction considerations inform the initial response and providing the required support to transitional and permanent shelter activities. This programme will also enable the International Federation to meet its commitment under the Memorandum of Understanding between the International Federation and UNOCHA to provide support for the global shelter sector and the coordination of emergency shelter in natural disasters.

Documents available:

• International Federation global shelter programme appeal 2007-2008 | in Arabic | en español | en français
• International Federation global shelter programme report 2006-2007
• Other International Federation policies | en español | en français
• Guidelines for emergency assessment | en español | en français
• Shelter related news stories