Cornish charity warns of global shelter crisis
ShelterBox is urging world leaders to focus on preventative measures
Last updated 12th Jun 2024
A Cornish charity that works in disaster zones around the world is warning of a global shelter crisis.
ShelterBox is calling for world leaders to take preventative action to deal with disasters like floods, storms or earthquakes.
The international disaster relief organisation has supported almost three million people in around 100 countries – responding in over half of those places more than once.
In the case of the Philippines more than 30 times, Pakistan 10 times, Indonesia 10 times, and Uganda seven times.
They're highlighting how almost 1 in 6 people could be uprooted from their homes worldwide because of disaster and conflict in the next 25 years.
ShelterBox CEO, Sanj Srikanthan says: "Repeatedly responding with emergency shelter to the same countries isn’t a sign of resilience. It’s a symptom of systemic failure to compensate recovering nations and prevent crises from happening in the first place.
"People are too often left in crisis and without anywhere to live after storms, earthquakes, or flooding, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
"Disasters keep following these events because of decisions by those in power not to invest or plan ahead. It leaves whole communities from recovering nations in crisis for longer - struggling to move on from one disaster before the next one hits."
ShelterBox say the number of people left without a safe place to live after disasters strike is "growing exponentially" and the world is "unprepared".
The charity is warning that inaction by people in power creates a "recipe for disaster" long before a storm forms or rivers burst their banks. It has launched a new campaign Rethink Disasters, urging for world leaders to focus on prevention.
Updated analysis from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) shows that 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050, with the poorest and most climate-vulnerable areas most affected.
ShelterBox warns that it will need to respond to more and more crises unless greater focus is placed by world leaders on preventative measures.
The charity will continue to respond to emergencies, and increasingly look to strengthen the resilience of the communities with which it works but says it cannot be everywhere.
"Ideally there wouldn’t be a need for ShelterBox and the work we do," adds Srikanthan, "but displacement around the world has never been higher and we’re having to change the way we work to reach more people and focus on shelters that are more robust."
ShelterBox is sending a clear message: "nobody should lose their home because world leaders failed to plan, prepare, and fund work to limit the impact. But action is needed now".