Emergency Response
IRD’s expert multidisciplinary teams have been at the center of the response to virtually every major disaster of the past decade, including the 2004 Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the 2009 Haitian earthquake, the 2010 flooding in Pakistan, and the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa. IRD has also been involved in the humanitarian response to many conflict-based crises, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon, Georgia, Pakistan, and Libya. Our emergency response teams arrive immediately after a natural or man-made disaster strikes to identify and respond to the most immediate needs; then we continue support through the critical recovery and rehabilitation phases. Because IRD has operations around the world, we understand the local cultural and political context, and our staff is positioned for quick response. After the crisis stabilizes, our humanitarian assistance teams design recovery and rehabilitation programs that smoothly transition activities to IRD’s long-term development experts. From the very start and through all phases of our work, IRD is committed to the principle of “building back better.” We infuse our programs with strategies and techniques of disaster risk reduction so communities can prosper and better withstand any future disaster.
Featured Initiatives
Capacity Building
IRD supports communities to become self-sufficient – to guide their own learning, l... more
Natural Resource Management
CAMEROON The loss of soil fertility caused by environmental degradation – primaril... more
Water & Sanitation
IRD develops a unique response to each situation using a wide variety of tools and... more
Women & Gender
IRD has a proud history of commitment to women’s issues since our founding in 1998.... more
Programs
Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Productive Agriculture
AVIPA and AVIPA Plus were relief and stabilization programs funded by USAID and imp... more
Building Resiliency in the Horn of Africa
IRD has been responding to the drought crisis in the Somali region of the Horn of A... more
Closing Emergency Gaps to Aid Victims of Displacement in Colombia
Colombia’s struggle against drug production and export, terrorism, and other armed... more
Earthquake Response in Haiti
IRD is helping to provide shelter, sanitation, and hygiene assistance, as well as m... more
Earthquake Response in Jogjakarta
In late May 2006, a disastrous 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Central Java reg... more
Emergency Food Aid in Chad
In June 2005, IRD completed Emergency Food-for-Work and Agricultural Assistance Ini... more
Emergency Relief and Employment Project
In September 2006, the Department for International Development (DfID), the UK g... more
Flood Response in Pakistan
In the first half of 2009, well over 1 million people fled their homes in northern... more
Gulf Coast Community Services Center
The IRD Gulf Coast Community Service Center (GCCSC) has been rebuilding the lives o... more
Improving the Health of Vulnerable Communities in Rural Yemen
The health of 30,000 people in vulnerable communities in the Hodeidah Governorate o... more
Indian Ocean Tsunami Response
The Indian Ocean Tsunami on December 26, 2004, caught the world’s attention with th... more
Integrated Community-Based Transitional Shelter, Sanitation, and Community Infrastructure
Following the devastating earthquake in 2010, IRD constructed 1,200 transitional sh... more
Libya Crisis Response
Since March 2011, IRD has reached approximately 10,000 beneficiaries in Libya with... more
Livelihood Restoration in Cameroon
Following political unrest in their home country, approximately 45,000 refugees fro... more
Resettling Refugees in Mauritania
In 1989, violent ethnic conflicts and mounting pressures on limited natural resourc... more
Working with the Displaced in Colombia
Colombia has served as an international leader in the challenge of bringing democra... more
