A man wearing a white t-shirt with a World Vision logo faces a building that has been reduced to rubble.

Emergency Response

Our disaster relief work saves lives – but it does far more than that. We warm, nourish, comfort and protect children who’ve experienced the unthinkable. We continue to walk beside them as their communities rebuild. And we press governments for programs and policies to secure their futures.

emergency responses

30

people reached

6.6 million

countries

25
Change

In Mongolia, caregivers using effective disaster risk reduction strategies increased from

73% to 94%Chingeltei|2013-2021
Change

In Mongolia, caregivers affected by disaster who were able to maintain their standard of living increased from

46% to 55%Khan Uul|2013-2021
Progress

4940488people learned how to protect themselves against COVID-19

Progress

15175community members received disaster risk reduction training

Progress

2129307people benefitted from the provision of food assistance

Connected Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goal 02 logo: Zero hungerSustainable Development Goal 05 logo: Gender EqualitySustainable Development Goal 13 logo: Climate action

Videos

Two young girls smile at each other as they stand in a grass field with a bicycle.

Challenges and Approach

The scale of global humanitarian need increased in 2021. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing effects of climate change, crop failure and migration have led to a global hunger crisis, with 45 million people on the brink of famine. The 2021 Sustainable Development Goals Report reveals that this year, the global extreme poverty rate rose for the first time in over 20 years.


Families in much of the world find themselves in increasingly precarious situations, yet more vulnerable to environmental and political shocks. This reality only deepens World Vision's commitment to providing emergency relief for children and families in crisis.

Assessing and responding to emergencies

Humanitarian emergencies result from many kinds of situations—from environmental disasters like drought or earthquakes to political conflicts that drive people from their homes. These crises can build slowly over time or strike suddenly and unexpectedly.


Our emergency response efforts prioritize saving lives in the short term, while working with communities to help them rebuild when immediate threats have passed. In all things, we keep girls and boys at the centre of our plans, concentrating on their physical and emotional safety and wellbeing—and this focus on children often sets us apart.

World Vision uses four categories as we assess emergencies and plan our responses.

  • Crisis Response - CATEGORY III are the most severe crises, where societies are unable to respond and recover without large scale external assistance.
  • Crisis Response - CATEGORY II are significant humanitarian crises that impact large numbers of people in societies that can respond and recover with limited external assistance.
  • Crisis Response - CATEGORY I are community level or subnational crises with localized impacts, where the community is able to respond and recover, with some assistance.
  • Chronic Emergencies & Fragile Contexts - SUSTAINED HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES are emergency responses that have been running for 24 months, and are projected to continue for at least another year.
Please see our Annual Results Report for a full list of references
...

Progress

Stories

A crowd of mothers wait in line at a food distribution.

Global hunger is surging towards catastrophe in an unprecedented way, with the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, climate change and instability causing new hunger hotspots to pop up across the globe.

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A woman holds back tears as a girl looks up at her.

With violence intensifying across eastern and southern Ukraine, refugees need more than food and shelter – they need protection and mental health support.

Read more(link opens in new tab/window)
A humanitarian worker in an orange shirt and mask distributes food to people.

Humanitarian assistance helps save lives in the here and now – no matter where people live and what they are facing.

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Unless otherwise stated, data presented on this page reflects results of World Vision Canada programs reported between October 2020 and September 2021.