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Humanitarian Assistance in Emergencies

Background

Emergencies affect individuals, families and communities in a wide range of ways. This part of the site is focused on all aspects of humanitarian assistance, including the care and treatment of people involved in or affected by emergencies.

The provision of humanitarian assistance is a multi-agency activity and it is important that this work is co-ordinated across a range of agencies, including: the National Health Service; police services; local authorities; commercial organisations (e.g. transport companies); and voluntary organisations. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the designated Lead Government Department (LGD) when central government is engaged.

It is important that responders are aware of and make arrangements for the key groups of people affected by emergencies - including the injured, families and friends, the deceased and rescuers and response workers - and that structures and processes are put in place to provide care and assistance to meet their needs.

Effective care and treatment also requires responders to meet the specific needs of children and young people; faith, religious, cultural and minority ethnic communities; elderly people; and people with disabilities.

Key Documents

You should refer to:

• Identifying People Who Are Vulnerable in a Crisis - Guidance for Emergency Planners and Responders [PDF, 31 pages, 718KB]
• Humanitarian Assistance in Emergencies: Non-Statutory Guidance on Establishing Humanitarian Assistance Centres [PDF, 58 pages, 517KB]
  • Annex A - Template Leaflet [Word Document, 1 page, 56KB]
• A detailed guide to roles and responsibilities in humanitarian assistance (Published by DCMS) [PDF, 27 pages, 264KB]
• Literature and Best Practice Review and Assessment: Identifying People's Needs in Major Emergencies and best practice in Humanitarian Response [PDF, 112 pages, 1MB]

• Emergency Response and Recovery, Chapter 5 - "Care and Treatment of People" [PDF, 9 pages, 51KB] (pp34-42).
• Emergency Preparedness, Chapter 5: "Emergency Planning" [PDF, 27 pages, 130KB] (pp47-73) - Further guidance on incorporating care and treatment of people in emergency plans.
  • Annex 5a: "Examples of generic and specific plans" [PDF, 2 pages, 18KB]
  • Annex 5B: "Generic plan: emergency or major incident" [PDF, 1 page, 16KB]
  • Annex 5C: "Specific plan" [PDF, 1 page, 16KB]
  • Annex 5D: "Example of a plan maintenance matrix for a local authority" [PDF, 1 page, 18KB]
• The Needs of Faith Communities in Major Emergencies: Some Guidelines [PDF, 48 pages, 274KB] - Revised Home Office and Cabinet Office guidance document

Key Links

• DCMS  [External website] - lead on supporting victims of major disasters
• Voluntary sector bodies
  • British Red Cross [External website]
  • CRUSE Bereavement Care [External website]

Training

• The Emergency Planning College (EPC) [External website] is the leading provider of training for emergency preparedness, attracting delegates with responsibility for preventing, planning for, responding to or recovering from a major incident. The EPC runs these courses on the care of people as well as other aspects of civil protection:
• Foundation: Managing the Care of People in an Emergency [External website]
• Emergency Reception Centres [External website]
• Recovering from Emergencies [External website]

Other Links

You may also wish to refer to:

• Counselling Directory [External website] A huge counselling support network, enabling those in distress to find a counsellor close to them and appropriate for their needs. This is a free, confidential service. The website contains a number of sections on emotional disorders (types of distress section) and provides some useful statistics.

• Samaritans [External website]

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