When disaster strikes, every hour counts
In the chaos following an earthquake, flood, or conflict, children are the most vulnerable. That’s why Save the Children’s 72-hour emergency response is designed to deliver life-saving support fast, protecting children when they need it most.
Through our rapid disaster response charity network, we act within three days of an emergency to reach children and families with food, shelter, health care, education, and protection. With more than a century of experience, our international emergency teams know that speed and preparation can mean the difference between survival and tragedy.
Why speed matters in the critical first 72 hours
In any emergency, the first three days are crucial. Access to clean water, safe shelter, and medical care can save lives, while early protection from exploitation and trauma helps prevent long-term harm. A child-centred humanitarian response ensures that these priorities are met quickly and delivered with the specific needs of children in mind.
Within 72 hours, conditions on the ground can shift dramatically. Roads and bridges may be destroyed, disease can spread, and families can become separated. Acting fast means getting aid to children before hunger, illness, or fear take hold. That’s why our emergency response in 72 hours model prioritises readiness: from pre-positioned supplies to trained local partners ready to respond immediately.
Across 2025, our fast disaster relief for kids reached children affected by floods in the Pacific, earthquakes in Myanmar, and conflict in Gaza. Wherever emergencies occur, the same principles guide us: act early, act locally, and act for children first.
How Save the Children leads rapid, child-focused emergency response
Save the Children’s global emergency network is one of the most experienced in the world. We operate in more than 100 countries and can deploy specialist teams within hours. Our approach combines child-friendly emergency aid with long-term recovery support, ensuring children are safe, protected, and able to keep learning even during crisis.
The Save the Children emergency team includes experts in food security, education, health, protection, and logistics. In the first phase of any response, we deliver essentials like clean water, hygiene kits, nutrition support, and temporary learning spaces. We also provide psychosocial first aid for children, helping them process fear and loss through play, art, and safe routines.
Unlike many emergency responders, our work continues long after the media attention shifts. We help rebuild schools and health clinics, strengthen family incomes, and restore a sense of normality. This holistic, child-centred humanitarian response ensures recovery is built around children’s rights and future wellbeing.
Our preparedness, experience, and ability to scale globally and locally
Being able to deliver a 72-hour emergency response depends on preparation. Through the Children’s Emergency Fund, we maintain flexible, pre-approved funding that allows immediate action without waiting for donor pledges to arrive. This means we can move resources into affected areas the moment disaster strikes.
We also invest in local partnerships and training, so that communities are not just recipients of aid but active leaders in their own recovery. By pre-positioning supplies such as hygiene kits, water purification tablets, and tarpaulins, we reduce the time between impact and response. Our teams coordinate with governments, UN agencies, and local NGOs to make sure every intervention strengthens the system around children.
This approach allows us to scale globally and locally by sending our emergency health or logistics specialists into major disasters, while supporting in-country staff and volunteers who know their communities best. From drought-affected regions in the Horn of Africa to cyclone-hit islands in the Pacific, our rapid disaster response charity model adapts to each context while keeping children at the centre.
Stories from the field: how 72-hour response changes lives
When disaster or conflict strikes, children are at risk of losing their homes, routines, and sense of safety. Save the Children’s ability to deliver a 72-hour emergency response means we can reach them quickly with lifesaving care and protection.
In Gaza, children are being killed at an unprecedented rate. Many have lost homes, loved ones, and the safety to which they have a right. Working with local partners, we are providing urgent supplies, recreational kits, and psychosocial first aid to help children begin to recover emotionally, even in the midst of crisis.
In Lebanon, children have been displaced from their homes and cut off from health, water, and education services. Our emergency team is distributing essential items, food parcels, and learning resources, and creating child-friendly spaces where children can play, learn, and feel safe again.
And in Ukraine, as families continue to flee terrifying conflict, Save the Children is providing child-friendly emergency aid, including shelter, warm clothing, and child-focused protection programs. And through coordinated efforts across neighbouring countries, we’re ensuring that displaced children and families can access the care, education, and psychosocial support they need to rebuild their lives.
Across these crises, our rapid, coordinated action in the first 72 hours is providing hope for children caught in the world’s most dangerous emergencies.
How you can help us respond within 72 hours
A 72-hour emergency response is only possible because of people like you. Support from Australians enables Save the Children to act fast, often before international funding arrives. Donations to the Children’s Emergency Fund keep us ready to respond anywhere, anytime, with lifesaving, child-centred humanitarian response.
Here’s how your support helps deliver fast disaster relief for kids:
- It keeps essential supplies pre-positioned in vulnerable regions.
- It funds local emergency training and rapid deployment teams.
- It enables continuous psychosocial first aid for children recovering from trauma.
- It ensures education and protection remain part of every emergency response.
When you give to a rapid disaster response charity like Save the Children, you’re joining a global community that refuses to let children wait for help. Your support ensures that in the critical first 72 hours, children receive the care, comfort, and protection they deserve.
Together, we can make sure that no child is left behind when disaster strikes. Please make a donation to our Children’s Emergency Fund to help power our next 72-hour emergency response.