Disasters, climate and crises

Every year, disasters and crises have devastating impacts on people, communities and entire societies around the world. The IFRC and our 191 National Societies respond to, and work to prevent or lessen the impacts of, all types of crises and disasters. We do so for all people, with a focus on supporting the most vulnerable. Our priorities are to save lives, reduce suffering and uphold human dignity.

What do we do?

The IFRC is there at the right time—investing before an event in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, and integrating this across all areas of our work.

We work to ensure that we are always in the right place—effectively using technology and innovation to anticipate risks and disasters, support proactive early action and provide predictive financing.

We work together to make sure we have the right capacity—efficiently coordinating across our regional and global networks to ensure we can respond to increasing humanitarian demands, and improving locally-led humanitarian action.

We help our members develop the right skills—building the capabilities needed to respond to increasingly complex humanitarian environments: digital, urban, protracted, and technological.

We insist on the right focus—placing affected people and communities at the centre of preparedness and response. We continually promote ethical and people-led approaches, such as cash programming, and support response models that are as localized as possible.

Find out more in our Disaster Risk Management Policy: From prevention to response and recovery

How are crises and disasters evolving?

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