While natural disasters are as old as the earth, their frequency and severity are increasing.  In the past two decades the total number of natural disasters has quadrupled. In an average year natural disasters affect the lives of 250 million people and kill 66,000 people – half of them children.  Severe examples in recent memory include Earthquakes in central China and Haiti, the devastating cyclone in Myanmar (Burma), and the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Save the Children also uses the term emergency to describe human-caused disasters including conflicts and failed states. These disasters have a devastating impact on children and their families. One and a half billion children (two-thirds of the world’s population) live in the 42 countries affected by violent conflict.

Emergencies hit the most vulnerable people the hardest. Children are the most at risk bec ause they are physically weaker than adults and in danger of being separated from their families in times of crisis. In an emergency, development work is jeopardized, and decades of progress can be wiped out if we don’t have the ability to respond quickly and effectively.

Emergencies often result in population displacement, lack of humanitarian access, breakdown in family and social structures, erosion of traditional value systems, a culture of violence, weak governance, absence of accountability and a lack of access to basic social services.

Save the Children responds in a number of ways to help children and families affected by natural disaster and conflict.  Their needs can be grouped into three categories:

• Material (e.g. shelter and food)

• Developmental (e.g. schooling and play)

• Emotional (e.g. protection and psychological healing)