Girls wading through flood water in Guayas, Ecuador

From providing disaster relief to running recovery projects, Plan works to protect the rights of children and young people during emergencies, ensuring their immediate and long-term needs are met.

With our extensive relationships and knowledge of communities, local structures and institutions, we are best placed to help children and their families when disaster strikes.

Child protection is central to our work and we provide children with safe spaces, education and emotional support as a priority in our immediate disaster response.

Rebuilding lives

Children recover from disasters more quickly when they are involved in rebuilding their community. We ensure that children and young people take part in our disaster response and have a significant voice in the decision-making.

For example, following the 2004 tsunami that devastated communities across south Asia, Plan India involved local children in designing new environmentally-friendly houses and villages in Villupuram, while Plan Sri Lanka worked with children to design a landmark child-friendly school in Hambantota.

Reducing risks

Preparation can make all the difference when the worst happens. We work with children, young people and communities to identify disaster risks and strengthen their resilience.

In a flood-prone area of Bangladesh, for example, Plan-supported children's groups were concerned that parents seldom saved for emergencies, making them very vulnerable. Now the children have set up their own savings scheme to help their families buy food and other supplies when the floods return.

Plan works with partners at all levels to help prevent and reduce the impact of emergencies.

In El Salvador, for example, where the proportion of people exposed to disasters is the highest in the world, Plan has set up school protection plans with the Ministry of Education - making disaster risk reduction a key element in teacher training and school infrastructure projects.