Our Coronavirus Response
Discover how we are working to help people protect themselves from coronavirus in dangerously crowded camps and disaster zones.
Emergency Shelter Saves Lives
In the face of the coronavirus crisis, shelter means more than ever
During this new humanitarian disaster, the importance of shelter has never been clearer.
The virus is a deadly risk for vulnerable families who have lost their homes. The impact in crowded camps and makeshift settlements in places like Syria, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso could be devastating.
But emergency shelter can save lives by slowing the spread of coronavirus.
Watch the video to learn more.
How can shelter save lives?
It helps families who have lost their homes to self isolate and keep as healthy as possible
Self-isolating and social distancing is impossible if you don’t have a place to call home.
We provide the materials and training to help people create a place for their family to be together – away from others.
It helps to adapt or expand a vulnerable family's home to ease overcrowding
After disaster, many families will live together in one home, making social distancing difficult.
Emergency shelter items like tarpaulins, tools and ropes can help to create extra space so people can maintain distance.
It helps people move from collective centres where families live close together
After losing homes to disaster, communities will often crowd into temporary living spaces like schools, community centres and religious buildings, to live and sleep.
Emergency shelter can help people leave these busy buildings for a more private space. It can also help people reorganise temporary settlements, placing shelters a safe distance apart, in line with social distancing guidelines.
It helps reduce sharing of essential household items between families
By providing essential household items like cooking sets, blankets, solar lights and water filters, we can help families reduce sharing with others. This reduces the opportunities for the virus to pass between people.
Necessities like blankets and sleeping mats to keep warm and get some sleep – and water filters and cooking sets to help feed the family – also help people stay as healthy as possible.
Through our commitment to information sharing, it helps families understand how to keep themselves safe
By providing emergency shelter and supporting communities with social distancing to reduce the spread of the virus, we are helping to increase awareness about the threat of coronavirus.
By working with communities to raise awareness we can help more people to stay safe.
More from our coronavirus response
Coronavirus Urgent Appeal
Coronavirus is making life more dangerous than ever for families who lose their homes during disasters. Please donate to save lives today.
How we are responding to coronavirus
At ShelterBox, we’re adapting how we work as coronavirus creates a new and deadly risk for families who have lost their homes.
5 Things You Need to Know About Coronavirus
And how it’s affecting families living through disaster
Pictures from the frontline
See how we’re working with local partners to get shelter to the families who need it most