The number of people left without a safe place to live after disasters is soaring at an alarming rate, with the world woefully unprepared to tackle this mounting crisis, warns UK charity ShelterBox. As experts predict this year’s hurricane season could be the most active on record, the disaster relief organisation has raised the alarm over the urgent need for preventative action.
ShelterBox, which has provided aid to nearly three million people across around 100 countries, is now cautioning that nearly 1 in 6 people globally could be displaced due to disaster or conflict within the next 25 years. The charity’s stark warning highlights the relentless nature of these crises, with some communities hit so frequently that they struggle to recover before the next disaster strikes.
In countries such as the Philippines, which ShelterBox has assisted over 30 times, the cycle of disaster and recovery is all too familiar. The charity has also returned multiple times to Pakistan, Indonesia, and Uganda, underlining the persistent vulnerability of these regions. ShelterBox’s CEO, Sanj Srikanthan, argues that repeated interventions in the same countries are not a sign of resilience but rather a symptom of a deeper, systemic failure.
“Repeatedly responding with emergency shelter to the same countries isn’t a sign of resilience. It’s a symptom of systemic failure to compensate recovering nations and prevent crises from happening in the first place,” says Srikanthan. He emphasises that the ongoing crisis is not merely the result of natural disasters but also the outcome of inaction by global leaders who have failed to invest in preventative measures.
The charity has launched a new campaign, Rethink Disasters, urging world leaders to prioritise prevention and to take decisive action to mitigate the impact of disasters before they strike. Srikanthan stresses that it is the decisions—or lack thereof—made by those in power that often leave entire communities vulnerable, preventing them from recovering fully before being hit by the next catastrophe.
“People are too often left in crisis and without anywhere to live after storms, earthquakes, or flooding, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” he adds. “Disasters keep following these events because of decisions by those in power not to invest or plan ahead. It leaves whole communities from recovering nations in crisis for longer struggling to move on from one disaster before the next one hits.”
Updated analysis from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) underscores the gravity of the situation, predicting that by 2050, 1.2 billion people could be displaced, with the most impoverished and climate-vulnerable areas bearing the brunt of this upheaval. Rapid population growth, compounded by climate change, is expected to drive people to migrate in search of food and water, further increasing the risk of conflict.
ShelterBox is clear that without greater focus on preventative measures from global leaders, the charity will need to respond to more and more crises. While the organisation remains committed to its mission, it acknowledges that it cannot be everywhere. “Ideally, there wouldn’t be a need for ShelterBox and the work we do,” Srikanthan admits. “But displacement around the world has never been higher, and we’re having to change the way we work to reach more people and focus on shelters that are more robust.”
In response to these evolving challenges, ShelterBox has adapted its approach, offering a range of emergency shelter options tailored to the specific needs of disaster-prone regions. This includes building concrete bases in flood-prone areas like Pakistan and Syria, providing hurricane-resistant timber shelters in the Philippines, and using fireproof materials in Yemen.
Today, ShelterBox is sending a clear message: nobody should lose their home because world leaders failed to plan, prepare, and fund efforts to limit the impact of disasters. The charity urges immediate action to prevent further displacement and ensure that communities can recover and rebuild with greater resilience.
