What would you do in an extreme storm?
Imagine you live with your partner and children on an island in the South Pacific. A category 5 tropical cyclone is coming. What do you do next?
The climate crisis is here
And it's destroying homes
We’re providing emergency shelter for families who have lost their homes to climate-related disasters, but we need your help.
Time is running out. Our changing climate is creating an unprecedented need for emergency shelter around the world.
Even if global heating is stabilised at 1.5C increase, we will still see more extreme storms, more devastating floods and scorching droughts (IPCC report). All of these will force millions more people from their homes. It will make more places in our world unliveable.
Every day, people are losing their homes to climate-related extreme weather events and conflict. That’s why we’re calling for people all across the UK to help people living with the effects of the climate crisis.
Read on to learn more and see how you can support families who are losing their homes today.
If extreme weather events continue to increase at current rates, we could lose 167 million homes by 2040. That’s the equivalent of all our homes in the UK wiped out six times.
In 2020, 30 million people were displaced by climate disasters like floods and tropical storms (IDMC’s GRID 2020). That’s more than one person forced to flee every second.
The average wildfire season is three and a half months longer than it was a few decades ago (NRC 2015). The average number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has doubled in the last 35 years (NSF 2015)
On the frontline of the climate crisis
Sagarika lived with her family in their cherished West Bengal home for 25 years. A home that had managed to withstand the storms common to the region.
But when Cyclone Amphan hit with devastating force, it destroyed their home and their livelihood.
Read Sagarika’s story and discover how ShelterBox helped her family to recover.
Disasters are not natural
A human driven climate crisis is just one of the reasons why disasters are not natural.
Extreme weather like storms, drought, and flooding, occur because of natural processes on Earth. It is how these events affect people, or the environment, that has the potential to make them a disaster. Human factors that influence whether it becomes a disaster include where people live, what types of home they have, political instability, and the lack of proactive measures to protect vulnerable communities. And climate change is making these weather events worse.
It’s important to understand why disasters aren’t ‘natural’ and how misleading and damaging the term can be.
How ShelterBox can help
We provide emergency shelter and tools for families who have lost their home to disaster. This enables them to rebuild their lives.
Supporting communities who have lost their homes to extreme weather events has been a significant part of our work for over 20 years.
As the climate crisis continues to destroy homes and livelihoods, we are working to reach some of the world’s most vulnerable people. People who are bearing the brunt of the increase in extreme weather and the ravages of conflict.
It's vital we act now
Working on the frontline, we can help the most vulnerable families survive in the aftermath of extreme weather events.
That’s why we need your help now. So we can be ready to give people the life-changing support they need, when they need it.
Discover more
How does climate change affect disasters?
Climate change is a humanitarian crisis. Find out key stats about climate change, how it affects disasters and people, and what we’re doing about it.
Why disasters are not natural
Read why we no longer use the term ‘natural disasters’, the definition of a disaster, and how we have come to change our language.
Recovering after Cyclone Harold
John's story
Read how John and his family protected themselves from the menacing cyclone and how ShelterBox helped.
7 simple ways to lead a sustainable life
Small, everyday changes to our daily life can have a positive impact on the fight against climate change. Here are 7 simple ways to be more sustainable.
Crack the Crises
Find out what #CracktheCrises is and how ShelterBox is involved.