Natural disasters

Natural disasters can damage health care infrastructure—especially in low- and middle-income countries where people might already struggle to access the care they need. Hospitals and health facilities that are not damaged or outright destroyed can be overwhelmed with the sudden influx of patients.

How we help: In addition to providing emergency care on the ground following a natural disaster, we also mobilize our global logistics network to support local health facilities with essential medicines and supplies and help local staff provide specialized treatment. Depending on the needs, we also set up operating theaters, clinics, nutrition programs, vaccination campaigns, medical care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and sexual and reproductive health care, among other services.

Natural disasters can displace thousands of people at a time. Camps for displaced people present their own medical challenges, as they can often become overcrowded and sometimes lack essential health and water and sanitation infrastructure.

How we help: MSF teams travel by car, train, boat, or helicopter to dispatch mobile clinics to areas in and around disaster zones. Our teams provide displaced people with medical and psychological first aid, routine health care for people with chronic conditions, and essential relief items like tents and blankets. 

Natural disasters can create ideal environments for the spread of disease. Standing water left behind by storms and flooding can become breeding grounds for insects that spread diseases like malaria and dengue fever, and overcrowded, under-resourced camps for displaced people can quickly become hotbeds of measles, cholera, and other highly contagious diseases.

How we help: MSF’s response to disease outbreaks can take many forms depending on the situation, including setting up temporary medical facilities to provide patient care, implementing infection prevention and control measures, and improving water and sanitation. In every scenario, MSF teams prioritize prevention. This usually entails working with local health authorities to run mass vaccination campaigns, but it can also include health promotion, donating bed nets and hygiene kits, and pre-spraying houses with insecticide to suppress disease-spreading insects.

Invisible wounds can cut just as deep as physical wounds. MSF witnesses the psychological effects of surviving a natural disaster, and rebuilding afterwards.

How we help: We integrate psychological first aid in our emergency response  to provide immediate mental health support for people in crisis. This practice involves stabilizing people in emotional or physical distress, removing them from immediate danger, and promptly connecting them to appropriate mental health services. MSF mental health teams provide mental health services using a variety of means depending on patients’ needs, from one-on-one counseling to group sessions, as well as art and animal therapy.

About 90 percent of our staff is recruited and trained locally, and live in the communities they serve. These staff members are often the first on the ground when disaster strikes, and are often personally affected by the crises to which they are responding. MSF’s Psychosocial Care Unit (PSCU) supports approximately 50,000 locally-hired staff around the world with mental health services.

To make sure we respond to emergencies as quickly as possible, our logistics teams purchase, test, and strategically pre-position our vehicles, communications equipment, power and water-processing supplies, vaccine doses, and other equipment in logistical centers worldwide. This makes it possible for planes to be loaded and flown into crisis areas, regardless of where they are in the world, within 24 hours.

Mobile clinics are one of our primary methods for reaching displaced people or those living in remote areas following a natural disaster. These clinics-on-wheels help us save lives in the crucial first minutes after disaster strikes.

In the event of flooding, we use boats to reach people who are trapped on small areas of land or adrift on makeshift rafts that are cut off from health facilities and other essential services. When roads, bridges, or tunnels are inaccessible or unusable, we utilize helicopters to locate remote disaster-affected areas and medically evacuate patients in immediate need of care.

When local health centers and hospitals are stretched beyond capacity, MSF can bring support. Collaboration with local authorities enables a more rapid response to urgent needs, allowing us to work in existing medical centers or to set up new structures as needed in treating impacted people and prioritizing those with the greatest needs.