Emergencies can strike at any time and children are always the ones who suffer first and most. That’s why UNICEF has developed an emergency response strategy that ensures we can act fast and efficiently during a disaster.
From a network of supply hubs, UNICEF can deliver stores of life-saving aid within 72 hours across the world.
So when emergencies strike, UNICEF can rush in for children. Here is how we do it – all thanks to supporters like you.
Your support helps to keep UNICEF on the ground before, during, and after emergencies, working to reach children and families with lifesaving aid and long-term assistance.
When a sudden onset emergency such as an earthquake strikes or conflict breaks out, it’s children who suffer first and suffer most.
Every second counts in a crisis which is why UNICEF has supply hubs around the world with pre-positioned life-saving supplies ready and waiting to be delivered anywhere in the world within 72 hours of a crisis erupting. Thanks to you, wherever and whenever disasters strike, we’re ready to go.
How it works
In a matter of hours of a crisis starting, we’re already carrying out immediate assessments on the ground to identify the supplies needed to save children’s lives.
This information is passed to our logistic teams at our warehouse in Copenhagen. At over 20,000 square metres – the equivalent of three football pitches – it’s the largest humanitarian warehouse in the world.
At any one time, it’s filled with enough medicine, food, water and supplies to cover the immediate needs of at least 200,000 people anywhere in the world.
In 24 hours: we’re loading supplies
Big yellow robots zip up, pull out pallets of supplies, and bring them down to the loading floor, where they’re put on a track to be packed. Once they’re packed, they wait on the lower floor of the warehouse.
To deal with any eventuality, we’ve developed 38 different pre-packed kits to deliver directly to the field.
These Emergency Survival Kits can include warm thermal blankets to keep displaced children warm in winter; Life-saving food and therapeutic milk to treat and save children who are starving; Water purification tablets and hygiene kits to prevent disease outbreaks; Vaccines to keep children protected; Midwifery kits to deliver babies; Incubators and generators to keep hospitals saving lives; and there is even a School-in-a-Box to keep children learning.
48 hours later: the plane journey
The team in the warehouse have 48 hours to organise the transportation and logistics of bringing tonnes of supplies from point A to point B.
The supplies generally leave UNICEF’s Copenhagen warehouse by cargo plane. The planes are often supplied by our corporate partners who donate cargo space from UNICEF’s hub to destinations where the need is greatest. Thanks to these collaborations, shipments can reach children in all parts of the world.
UNICEF has 876 staff in the field who work to ensure the local delivery of supplies. They have expertise in procurement, logistics, and freight handling.
In emergencies, the supplies are shipped by plane, but in some situations, supplies are transported by ship as it is a cheaper way to deliver products.
72 hours later: supplies arrive
The planes shipping supplies try to land wherever it is possible. If there is no runway to land at all, we turn to airdrops: many kits in the warehouse can survive a drop from the sky.
On the ground, our teams are already there to take care of the supplies. The moment the supplies arrive our logistic teams implement their distribution plan.
Some of our staff members have even transported supplies on mules, on their back or even in canoes to reach children.
Our teams bring the supplies to a safe, dry place where they can start unpacking and preparing the distribution.
Within 72 hours they are on the ground, making their way into the hands of children who desperately needed them. We make sure that each child in need receives the food, clothing or emergency kits they have been waiting for.
As yet another tropical storm barrelled into Mozambique in December 2024, UNICEF supporters made sure we were there to provide emergency assistance to children and their families.
Albertina, 44, a mother of four, narrowly escaped harm when her house collapsed during Cyclone Chido in the district of Mecufi.
“It all started with heavy rain all night and until then we weren’t scared. But when that wind started to really blow I started to get scared,” Albertina said.
“We decided to get out of the house to look for a safe place to stay because our plates were shaking a lot. That’s when I felt something push me hard into a tree and when I looked behind me my whole house fell to the ground.
“Everything, walls, ceiling, everything fell to the ground.”
Essential support
To support cyclone victims like Albertina, UNICEF rapidly mobilised resources for victims in the three most affected districts: Mecufi, Chiúre, and Metuge.
This included humanitarian assistance kits and essential medicines for the district hospital and Murebué health centre, both devastated by the cyclone, to help minimise the tropical storm’s impact on the lives of children and their families.
Albertina received hygiene kits from UNICEF, including a water purifier, crucial for protecting her children from diarrheal diseases.
“When we leave home, we can’t take much so these materials we’ve received will help us a lot,” Albertina said.
“We have children and with these rains and a lot of people in the one place, it’s easy to catch diseases.
“So making sure we put it in the drinking water is very good for everyone’s health, but especially for the children.”
UNICEF also supported the Mecufi district with tents that could be used as temporary health centres, dignity kits, buckets, soap, and recreational kits to help children deal with their trauma.
Can you help UNICEF’s emergency response?
Supporting UNICEF today means you will help send essential food, medicine and other supplies to children around the world – fast and efficiently. By giving a gift, particularly a monthly gift, you allow us to work quickly in crises to save lives and run long-term programmes that keep vulnerable children safe and healthy despite the multiple threats they face.
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