Oxfam Emergency Response


Disasters caused by armed conflict and climate chaos are having a devastating effect on communities globally.

Donate to our Emergency Fund to provide vital support that enables people to get their lives back – fast.

What is the Emergency Response Fund?

The climate crisis, armed conflict, deep-rooted inequality. These factors are making life much less stable and more fragile for millions of people around the world.

We are now responding to ongoing emergencies in a very complex landscape.

Millions of dedicated supporters like you have made us what we are today. We work through local experts and have decades of experience. Together we are fast, flexible and effective in an emergency.

What we’re doing

In wars and natural disasters people lose everything. With our partners, we provide essentials like clean water, sanitation and food. Our support includes:

  • Direct cash payments, so that people can prioritise according to their needs
  • Clean water supplies, soap and toilets to prevent the spread of deadly diseases
  • Food packages to stop hunger from taking hold

Destroyed buildings in Gaza. Image: Marwan sawwaf/Alef MultiMedia/Oxfam

To describe the humanitarian situation in Gaza currently, we can say it’s only getting worse by the minute. Every day is worse than the day before. Access to basic needs like food, water and the fuel is almost impossible, it’s very difficult.”

- Fidaa Alaraj, an Oxfam worker in Gaza.

With your support, Fidaa and our partners will be equipped to provide life-saving resources.

Who we work with

Our approach is partner-led. This is because we know and respect that the communities we work with, have incredible resilience, knowledge, and expertise. For over 80 years, our support has focused on enabling communities to have the power, institutions, and resources to simultaneously:

  • Stand up for their rights
  • Rebuild with more resilience
  • Lead on life-saving response during emergencies by delivering life essentials like water, sanitation, food and shelter.

We partner with local experts, including the people who’ve been worst affected, to deliver the essentials. With more than 80 years’ experience working in some of the most fragile situations around the world, we’ve reached millions of people with practical support while doing what we can to enable them to reclaim their rights and build peace. We do this thanks to the commitment of people like you.

Your support makes you a key partner– because each win is only possible when all of us work together. We work in partnership with local organisations so that we can quickly adapt our response. We’re led by the communities who are most affected, listening, learning from and acting on their expertise both during and after armed conflict or extreme weather events.

Kisbano wears a purple outfit that covers her hair as well. She smiles and holds her cane and stands outside the village toilet that has just been built.

"We never had a toilet here. Imagine going out in the dark with the dogs howling around. It was scary and unsafe." Kisbano. Image: Tooba Niazi/Oxfam

Restoring toilets destroyed by floods

Increasingly, our emergency work is addressing the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

In 2022, Pakistan saw record rainfall followed by devastating floods that killed 1,700 people and wiped out more than 2 million homes.

When the floods hit, the destroyed property included toilets. Our response included building toilets.

Oxfam and its partner Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) have built us these latrines which are not only accessible but safe.”

- Kisbano in Pakistan.

Working with partners

With our partners leading the response, we also delivered food, cash, shelter and hygiene kits to over 37,000 people.