Disaster Assistance

In northeast Nigeria, where there are more than 8.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid, USAID is providing safe drinking water, as well as food assistance to help those in need.

Photo credit: Michael Stulman/Catholic Relief Services​

When a natural disaster or conflict destroys cities, homes and markets, or when hunger and disease threaten to spread, people caught in the middle are simply looking to survive. Helping them is at the core of what USAID does every day, all around the world.

USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance responds to an average of 65 disasters in more than 50 countries every year, providing life-saving assistance to tens of millions of people including those affected by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, drought in Southern Africa, conflict in Syria and Iraq, and flooding in Burma.

USAID is also responding to the needs of the more than 20 million people facing severe hunger in Lake Chad Basin, Yemen, Horn of Africa, as well as famine in South Sudan. We and our partners are delivering live-saving food assistance, emergency health and nutrition services, safe drinking water, hygiene kits, and relief items to help people facing famine in these countries, and elsewhere around the world.