Responding to crisis
HALO works in the world's most fragile places, where few people have the resources to cope when emergencies strike. We are often the first organisation on the ground when everything else has fallen apart.
Our teams live and work in their own communities. We have trained medics, heavy loaders, trucks and well-disciplined teams. We can move fast when help is needed.
Our work
Clearing up after earthquakes
Earthquakes levelled entire villages in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan in 2023 and 2025. HALO's heavy machinery, normally used to clear explosives, was deployed to move rubble. This enabled roads to reopen, restoring access to cut-off communities. After the 2023 earthquake in Syria, HALO teams dug through collapsed buildings, cleared streets, and searched for survivors beneath the wreckage.
Providing supplies and medical aid
In Laos, we often use our fleet of trucks to provide food and medicine to villages cut off by monsoon flooding. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we provided medical supplies to Cambodia and Zimbabwe, where local systems were overwhelmed. In Ukraine in 2022, we repurposed our mine clearance teams to provide food aid, transport and shelter after Russia's invasion.
Helping displaced people
Crisis response is not just about clearing ground, it's about restoring dignity. Hundreds of families were displaced by the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian enclave in the Caucasus. HALO provided direct cash assistance, helping people buy food, secure shelter, and begin again in Armenia after they lost their homes.
HALO is committed to crisis response
HALO's strength lies in its people. Almost all our staff are local. They are deeply trusted, highly trained, and committed to their communities. Many are paramedics and many are survivors themselves.
Across the 30+ countries where we work, HALO is committed to being first in and last out. From the first hours of crisis through the long road to recovery.
Podcast: Earthquakes and emergencies
JJ Chalmers
Our Beyond Bombs podcast is hosted by veteran and broadcaster, JJ Chalmers.
JJ Chalmers speaks to HALO's Syria programme manager Damian O'Brien, who was travelling back from Syria when the earthquake struck in February 2023. His tale of survival is remarkable.
Hear too from Svitlana, who delivers risk education classes for HALO in Ukraine. She was woken up by missiles on the first day of Russia's attack on her country.
