Complex emergencies

Slovak term: Slovenský termín

1. Complex emergencies are situations of disrupted livelihoods and threats to life produced by warfare, civil disturbance and large-scale movements of people, in which any emergency response has to be conducted in a difficult political and security environment.

Explanation

Complex emergencies combine internal conflict with large-scale displacements of people, mass famine or food shortage, and fragile or failing economic, political, and social institutions. Often, complex emergencies are also exacerbated by natural disasters.

Example

A combination of complex disasters and natural hazards (e.g. military and political problems combined with severe winter weather, coastal storms and flooding, drought and a cholera epidemic) was particularly devastating in the 1990s in such countries as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Myanmar, Peru and Somalia.

References

• WHO (2002). Environmental health in emergencies and disasters: a practical guide

Links

• WHO — The Health and Environment Lexicon
• Health action in crisis
• Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response