Emergency Response Protocols

5.1 Introduction: The First 72 Hours Save Lives

Despite the best early warning and prevention efforts, climate-induced displacement will occur. When it does, rapid, coordinated and comprehensive emergency response can mean the difference between survival and tragedy, between temporary disruption and lasting harm. This chapter covers emergency response protocols, coordination mechanisms, resource mobilization strategies and humanitarian assistance standards in climate displacement crises.

Effective emergency response begins with preparation before a crisis strikes: pre-positioned resources, established coordination structures, trained personnel and tested procedures that can be activated as soon as disaster occurs. The first 72 hours in particular are the most critical period for search and rescue and for keeping people alive.

5.2 Phases of Emergency Response

Climate displacement emergencies unfold across distinct phases, each requiring different interventions. The durations below are a general division and vary with the scale and nature of the disaster.

Emergency Response Phases

IMMEDIATE (0-72 hours): RESCUE AND SURVIVAL
├─ Search and rescue
├─ Emergency medical care
├─ Life-saving evacuation
├─ Emergency shelters established
├─ Water and food distribution begins
└─ Communication with affected people

ACUTE (3-14 days): STABILIZATION
├─ Comprehensive needs assessment
├─ Shelter expansion and organization
├─ Water and sanitation systems
├─ Food security established
├─ Medical services scaled up
├─ Family reunification begins
└─ Coordination formalized

SHORT-TERM (2 weeks-3 months): HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
├─ Sustained supply of essentials
├─ Protection services for vulnerable groups
├─ Continuity of children's education
├─ Livelihood support begins
├─ Mental health services
├─ Registration and documentation
└─ Early recovery planning

TRANSITIONAL (3-12 months): RECOVERY PATHWAY
├─ Assessment of durable solutions
├─ Planning for return, resettlement or local integration
├─ Livelihood restoration programmes
├─ Housing solutions
├─ Restoration of local services
└─ Transition to development programming

LONG-TERM (1+ years): SOLUTIONS
├─ Permanent housing or resettlement
├─ Full restoration of services
├─ Economic integration
├─ Community rebuilding
└─ Covered in Chapter 6 (Resettlement and Integration)
            

5.3 Disaster Response Command Structure

Effective response requires a clear command and coordination structure.

5.4 Search, Rescue and Evacuation

The first hours determine survival for those trapped or stranded by climate disasters.

5.4.1 Evacuation Procedure

5.5 Emergency Shelter

After survival is secured, safe shelter is the most urgent need.

Example Shelter Layout (conceptual)

┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│        Entrance and registration     │
│  (security, check-in, information)   │
└─────────────────┬────────────────────┘
         ┌────────┴────────┐
         ▼                 ▼
  ┌─────────────┐   ┌─────────────┐
  │ Family area │   │ Single area │
  └──────┬──────┘   └──────┬──────┘
         └────────┬────────┘
                  ▼
  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
  │ Sanitation (gender-separated,│
  │ lit, lockable, handwashing)  │
  └──────────────┬───────────────┘
                 ▼
  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
  │ Dining and distribution area │
  └──────────────┬───────────────┘
                 ▼
  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
  │ Health area (consultation,   │
  │ medicines, isolation)        │
  └──────────────┬───────────────┘
                 ▼
  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
  │ Support services (child-     │
  │ friendly space, psychosocial │
  │ support, legal advice,       │
  │ communication centre)        │
  └──────────────────────────────┘
            

5.6 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Inadequate water and sanitation are leading causes of disease and death in displacement settings, making WASH a top priority.

WASH Emergency Standards and Interventions (Sphere)

WATER SUPPLY:
├─ Minimum: 15 litres per person per day
├─ Maximum 500 m from shelter to water point
├─ Queuing time: maximum 30 minutes
├─ Water quality: WHO standards, regular testing
└─ Delivery: water trucking, temporary pipelines, tanks,
   bottled water (short term only), treatment systems

SANITATION:
├─ Initial phase: no more than 50 people per toilet
├─ As soon as possible: no more than 20 people per toilet
├─ Gender segregation
├─ Maximum 50 m from dwellings
└─ Safety: lighting, locks, safe locations

HYGIENE PROMOTION:
├─ Soap: 250 g of bathing soap per person per month
├─ Hygiene kits: menstrual supplies, bathing and cleaning items
├─ Handwashing stations: at toilets and food areas
├─ Bathing facilities: sufficient, safe, private and gender-segregated
├─ Hygiene education and behaviour change campaigns
└─ Vector control: controlling disease-carrying pests

SOLID WASTE:
├─ Regular removal from living areas
├─ Safe disposal
└─ Separate handling of medical waste
            

5.6.1 Emergency Water Treatment Methods

5.7 Food Security and Nutrition

This is an example of a general ration commonly used in WFP and UNHCR guidance; actual rations are adjusted to local diets, market conditions and the nutritional status of the population.

5.7.1 Nutrition for Vulnerable Groups

• Children under 5: growth monitoring, supplementary feeding, treatment of acute malnutrition
• Pregnant and lactating women: additional energy, iron-folate supplements, special rations
• Older people: soft foods, micronutrient supplements, help with food preparation
• People with chronic illness: diets suited to diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, HIV and other conditions
• Persons with disabilities: accessible distribution, help with preparation, appropriate food forms

5.8 Health Services

5.8.1 Triage

Triage System (e.g. START method)

Patient arrives
    │
    ▼
Rapid primary assessment (walking, breathing, circulation, consciousness)
    │
    ├─ 🔴 RED: immediate treatment needed (priority 1)
    ├─ 🟡 YELLOW: treatment can be delayed (priority 2)
    ├─ 🟢 GREEN: minor injuries, able to walk (priority 3)
    └─ ⚫ BLACK: dead or very unlikely to survive (palliative care)
            

5.8.2 Emergency Medical Teams (WHO Classification)

Emergency Health Service Delivery

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE:
├─ Outpatient consultation, first aid and trauma care, essential medicines
├─ Vaccination (measles and polio priority)
├─ Mobile clinics, fixed health posts in settlements, hospital referral
└─ Staffing: at least 22 skilled health workers (doctors, nurses,
   midwives) per 10,000 people (Sphere)

DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL:
├─ Surveillance: outbreak early warning, regular reporting, investigation capacity
├─ Vaccination: measles (top priority in the first weeks), polio, tetanus, diphtheria
├─ Vector control: mosquito nets, insecticide spraying, breeding-site removal
└─ Water quality: regular testing, chlorination, safe storage education

MENTAL HEALTH AND PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT:
├─ Psychological first aid
├─ Community-based programmes: support groups, activities
├─ Clinical care for severe mental disorders
└─ Mental health integrated into all services

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH:
├─ Antenatal, delivery and postnatal care, skilled birth attendance
├─ Family planning, response to sexual violence
└─ Implementation of the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP)

CHRONIC DISEASE MANAGEMENT:
├─ Continuity of medication for diabetes, hypertension, asthma
└─ Regular monitoring and specialist referral
            

5.8.3 Major Health Risks and Responses

5.9 Protection Services

Displacement heightens protection risks, especially for women, children, older people and persons with disabilities.

5.10 Coordination Mechanisms

5.10.1 The Cluster Approach

Humanitarian response under the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is organized into 11 global clusters:

5.10.2 Government-Humanitarian Partnership

Coordination Structure

NATIONAL LEVEL:
├─ National disaster management authority: overall coordination and command,
│  resource mobilization, policy decisions, international assistance coordination
├─ Line ministries (health, education, water, etc.): sector response,
│  technical guidance, service delivery
└─ Humanitarian coordination (UN, NGOs): cluster coordination, resource
   mobilization, operational support, capacity supplementation

REGIONAL/DISTRICT LEVEL:
├─ Regional emergency operations centres: local coordination, needs
│  assessment, response implementation
├─ Local government: first response, local knowledge, community mobilization
└─ Field humanitarian teams: operations, community engagement,
   monitoring and reporting

SITE LEVEL:
├─ Camp and shelter management: day-to-day coordination, service
│  oversight, complaints handling
└─ Community structures: representation, feedback, self-organization
            

5.11 Needs Assessment and Information Management

5.11.1 Emergency Communication Systems

Emergency Communication Layers

Satellite communications (VSAT, satellite phones)
├─ Internet access, long-distance calls, data transfer
        │
HF/VHF radio
├─ Field coordination, inter-team communication, emergency broadcasts
        │
Mobile networks
├─ Public communication, text and cell-broadcast alerts, social media
        │
Ground-based means
└─ Loudspeakers and sirens, notice boards, community meetings
            

5.12 Resource Mobilization

• National resources: government budgets, disaster funds, in-kind contributions
• Bilateral aid: country-to-country emergency assistance
• UN appeals: Flash Appeals and Humanitarian Response Plans seeking international funding
• Private sector: corporate donations, logistics support, employee volunteering
• Public donations: individual giving through NGOs and UN agencies
• Humanitarian pooled funds: rapid allocations from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and country-based pooled funds (CBPF)
• Pre-positioned stocks: emergency supplies stored in advance for immediate deployment

5.13 Transition to Recovery

5.14 Major Cases and Lessons

5.14.1 Pakistan Floods 2022

Pakistan's 2022 floods affected about 33 million people and displaced about 8 million.

• Scale: the unprecedented scale overwhelmed preparedness systems
• Access constraints: infrastructure damage made reaching affected people extremely difficult
• Disease prevention: contaminated and standing water sharply raised the risk of waterborne and vector-borne disease, making WASH and health response central
• Protection gaps: women and girls faced heightened risk of gender-based violence in displacement settings
• Finance gap: damage and losses estimated by the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) exceeded US$30 billion, far above the humanitarian funding available
• Long recovery: more than a year later, many people had still not returned home, showing the long-term nature of climate displacement

5.14.2 The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Earthquakes and tsunamis are not climate hazards, but this disaster left lessons on large-scale warning, evacuation and shelter management that apply to climate disasters too.

5.14.3 Common Causes of Response Failure

5.15 Conclusion

When climate displacement occurs, emergency response protocols save lives and reduce suffering. Clear procedures, well-trained personnel, adequate resources and strong coordination are key. Yet even the most effective emergency response is inherently temporary. Durable solutions require return to areas of origin, local integration where people have been displaced, or resettlement elsewhere, which the next chapter explores in detail.