emergency response

Clerence Tamara, a leader in her island community in Vanuatu on disaster preparedness and risk reduction, blows a conch shell—a warning signal for her community. “In my community, we blow the conch shell in emergencies, and it means ‘act now!’ I would like to blowthe conch shell so everyone in the world can hear it, because climate change is an emergency, and to stop it, we all need to act now.” (Photo: Elizabeth Stevens/Oxfam America)

Funding the Frontline: How an Oxfam Emergency Response Fund facilitated local humanitarian action

From 2014 to 2020 Oxfam embedded an Emergency Response Fund (ERF) in its multiyear disaster risk reduction programs in Asia-Pacific and Central America. The Oxfam ERF was designed as a flexible funding mechanism to prioritize small-scale, under-the-radar, and forgotten emergencies and help local...

Esni Haya, pictured here holding her four-month-old baby, has been living in the Sarimanok Evacuation Center for more than two years since the Marawi Siege. She shared with us her experiences of displacement; the challenges evacuees face in accessing WASH and other basic facilities; and her dreams of homecoming. Oxfam led the initial case study research in the three major island groups of the Philippines to co-create a shared understanding of context-specific issues that must be included in policy developme

Oxfam-developed WASH policy draft approved by the Philippine Department of Health

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health (DOH) issued Administrative Order 2020-0032, entitled "National Policy on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Emergencies and Disasters", in July 2020. Once fully implemented, local health offices and local government units will be better...

Marawi Response: One month on

As the crisis in Marawi City enters its fifth week, there are concerns that the situation could become protracted, with no immediate indication on when evacuees could return to their homes. The number of evacuees continue to increase as neighboring municipalities affected by the ongoing offensives...

A family sits outside the bunkhouse where they continue to live after being displaced by typhoon Haiyan. Many of those in bunkhouses are being targeted for permanent resettlement to safer land as part of recovery plans. Photo: Genevive Estacaan/Oxfam 2014

In the Shadow of the Storm: Getting recovery right one year after typhoon Haiyan

The scale of the destruction caused when typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines on 8 November 2013 was staggering. The emergency response provided life-saving support to millions of people in the affected region. But the challenge now is to ensure that recovery efforts leave devastated communities...