Both natural and man-made disasters, from floods to armed conflict, affect millions of people around the world each year.
While Compassion is not a disaster relief organization, we do work to equip and empower local churches in disaster-prone areas, giving them the resources they need to quickly respond to the needs of children in their communities.
You can support children suffering in the aftermath of disaster by donating to Compassion’s Disaster Relief fund, which delivers resources to local partner churches in impacted areas.
On the night of May 3, 2023, floods and landslides ravaged Rwanda’s northern and western parts. Over 20,000 people were left homeless, including Charlotte and her five children. The family lost everything they had, including the garden they used for food and income.
This is a devastating reality for many families around the world who suffer from disasters. And for those already living in poverty, these disasters take everything and leave nothing to rebuild.
At Compassion, we partner with local churches to care for the needs of children living in poverty. And often, this means caring for them after disaster strikes.
Disasters Devastate Families Around the World
Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Landslides. Armed conflict. War. All of these disasters impact millions of people each year. For example, there are approximately 55 earthquakes a day around the world, which equals 20,000 a year. And 100 countries across the globe have been involved in some form of conflict in the past five years.
On average, 40,000 to 50,000 people lose their lives per year due to natural disasters and thousands more die due to conflict-related violence. Millions of others suffer homelessness, displacement and other effects that impact their lives for years.
Disasters Hit the Impoverished the Hardest
Already vulnerable families in impoverished communities often suffer the most. Living in poverty, these families live on less than $3.00 per day, and many of them lack any savings to fall back on. They’re unable to replace what’s lost, such as their homes or even food, leaving them without.
These families may also rely on jobs such as farming to provide for their families. When disasters like floods and severe drought strike, their livelihoods vanish, pushing families deeper into poverty and food insecurity.
Many impoverished communities around the world are also remote and without quality communication systems. These barriers result in limited access to aid and recovery, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Disaster Response: What’s Required?
How can we better respond to disasters and reduce the number of precious lives impacted? Through effective disaster response. An effective disaster plan includes four key steps: preparation, response, recover and mitigation.
Disaster Preparation
The best way to lessen the impact of a disaster is to prepare before it happens. Disaster preparation involves creating a disaster plan as well as equipping communities with the knowledge and resources needed to fight back against disasters once they strike.
Disaster Response
In the wake of disaster, children and families need to be taken care of. They may need fast treatment for injuries or help finding safe shelter and something to eat. This is where disaster response comes in.
Responding to a disaster may look like search and rescue efforts, emergency medical care, food and water management and even shelter assignment for displaced families.
Disaster Recovery
Families impacted and their communities also need long-term care. Families may need ongoing medical support, access to food or long-term shelter. Communities may need repairs such as water system restoration or clean-up to ensure public areas are free of debris.
All these steps and more are taken during disaster recovery, which aims to stabilize communities.
Disaster Mitigation
Mitigation means to make something less severe. When it comes to disaster mitigation, these efforts involve reducing the impact of future disasters.
For example, these activities might include large-scale, community-based initiatives like stormwater management repairs or small-scale interventions like rebuilding a family’s home with higher quality materials.
How Does Compassion Prepare for & Respond to Disasters?
Compassion International is not a disaster relief organization, but a Christian ministry dedicated to releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name. However, many of the children we serve live in disaster-prone areas and often suffer from the aftereffects of devastating emergencies.
We work to equip and empower local churches in these areas, giving them the resources they need to quickly respond to the needs of children in their communities.
Preparing Local Churches & Their Communities
One of the most effective ways to help decrease the impact of disaster is preparation. And through Compassion’s child sponsorship program, as well as other initiative such as WaSH (water, sanitation and hygiene), we help local churches build resiliency within their communities.
For example, through child sponsorship, children have a stable support system and consistent access to malnutrition monitoring and intervention, regular medical checkups and ongoing encouragement, among other necessities. In times of disaster, this stability protects the vulnerable from malnutrition, disease and hopelessness.
Initiatives like WaSH equip communities with the supplies and infrastructure needed for continuity of critical resources, no matter what happens next. With these interventions, families and the local community are better positioned to respond to disasters.
Compassion also supports local churches in planning for disasters by encouraging every partner to have a disaster response plan. These plans include the steps local churches should take before, during and after a disaster, helping reduce its impact.
Supporting Fast Response & Recovery Efforts
If a disaster occurs within a community we serve, local church partners immediately alert our national offices. Designated church members trained as first responders deliver stocked supplies like emergency food packs, water, temporary shelter and other essentials to the community in need.
Once the event has stabilized, we support continued recovery activities, delivering ongoing physical, mental and spiritual care to the children and communities we serve. This might look like helping to rebuild homes or simply ensuring children have someone to talk to as they process what they’ve experienced.
Mitigation activities are determined by the local churches within affected communities as well as the country’s national office. Examples of these interventions may include building, home and retaining wall construction, or even planting trees.
Compassion in Action: Charlotte & Her Family Find a Home
“It was around midnight when I heard our neighbor calling my name. I woke up only to feel like I was drowning. I screamed as I kept drowning; I closed my eyes, thinking I was dreaming. Immediately, I heard my son calling me, and I gasped for breath, telling him that I was drowning.” — Charlotte
Once Charlotte and her family escaped the floodwaters, they watched as they rose, quickly swallowing up their Rwandan home and everything inside. The family was left with only the clothes on their backs.
Charlotte and her children were evacuated and taken to a school in a nearby community. While it was a haven in the middle of the devastation, the building was overcrowded and under-resourced.
Uncertainty about her family’s future filled Charlotte’s heart. But little did she know that the local church was mobilizing, preparing to stand in the gap for her and others in the community.
“Despite the trauma and uncertainty we faced, we were happy to see the project staff from Compassion come to visit us and reassure us that they would find a way forward. With Compassion’s help, we were able to secure a small, temporary home for us as a family.” — Charlotte
Through the local church and the support of Compassion, Charlotte and her family were given the means necessary to rent a safe place to call home. They also received food, medical care and emotional support to help them cope with the trauma they experienced.
While Charlotte isn’t sure what the future holds, they know they have the support of their local Compassion center, no matter what happens next. And despite their devastating loss, the family has newfound hope.
The destruction disasters cause is not limited to collapsed buildings; it breaks apart families, disrupts livelihoods and steals hope. But through the support of our local church partners, Compassion is working to protect the most vulnerable. Will you join us?
