Refugees in over 14 countries have received the gift of shelter under UNHCR’s Nobody Left Outside program. However, shelter assistance needs to be heightened as ongoing emergencies create more urgency for critical shelter support.
Generous supporters like you are saving lives and building homes for the forcibly displaced. When kids like Yasmin Ara and Nur Kalima needed new shelter, you stepped in with your kindness.
Indeed, forcibly displaced families in over 14 countries have received the gift of shelter under UNHCR’s Nobody Left Outside campaign, which aims to deliver critical life-saving assistance in the form of shelter. Under the program, critical shelter assistance is provided to those in need in the form of shelter units, protection, health services, food, water, sanitation and education.
As a fundamental basic human right, shelter is one of the foremost services UNHCR provides to the displaced. Shelter assistance is the cornerstone of UNHCR’s mandate of rebuilding refugee lives. Delivery of these services is also personalized and tailored to individual, familial, and community needs after consultation with refugees.
Safe and sound no matter the season
Refugees are also receiving support to help them deal with seasonal changes.
Shelter aid is critical for Rohingya refugees living in tropical Bangladesh, a country frequently ravaged by the monsoon and cyclone seasons. Every year, unrelenting rain and winds cause floods and landslides that poses safety threats to millions of Rohingyas living in various settlement camps.
Ten-year-olds Yasmin Ara and Nur Kalima felt this danger when a landslide destroyed their shelters in the Kutupalong refugee camp. What little their families had rebuilt were quickly swept away.
Through the help of amazing donors, UNHCR was able to relocate their families to newly-built shelters in a safe and level area within a week of the devastating event.
“Here, we can freely run and play, and it’s really comfortable,” says Yasmin.
Refugees living in colder climates also receive life-saving assistance to deal with tough winters.
Malak, Mostafa, and their three young children had been living in Jordan since they fled wartorn Syria in 2013. Living in a cold and damp building, they needed money for a gas heater and winter clothing for the kids. This compromised their health and safety, especially for Mostafa, who is physically disabled.
At their time of need, generous donors worldwide stepped in and delivered live-saving assistance to the family.
Repairing homes, rebuilding lives
For families forced to flee, returning to their homelands can be difficult especially when their homes are badly damaged or destroyed.
In Ukraine, returnees go back to their bombed houses amid other problems typical of areas beset by conflict. Over 70% of these returnees are also elderly or considered vulnerable, making shelter assistance more urgent.
Through the dedication of donors, UNHCR was able to help repair homes of almost 33,000 returnees or internally displaced individuals in Ukraine.
However, the task of providing shelter assistance is unfinished. Just recently, over 48,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh need urgent help after landslides and flooding ravaged almost 600 shelters. On top of that, nearly 25 people are being forced to flee each minute, and they need shelter too.
Reinforced support needs to be heightened to take our shelter campaign to the next level. Your continued help will enable us to provide emergency assistance to refugees with shelter needs.
To continue strengthening our refugee shelter assistance, please click to donate.
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