1. Purpose
This protocol tells you how to alert CI about a coming humanitarian emergency.
2. Policy
Why alerts are important
Emergency alerts are important to:
- alert the Lead Member and CEG to get ready to help with the response
- alert CI Members to get ready for fundraising and media activities to support the response.
Note: Often the first agency to provide information to donors and the media is the most successful at raising funds!
Read the signs
Watch closely for emergency risks and triggers. These should be identified in the COs EPP and early warning processes.
Immediately alert CEG and Lead Member managers
What ‘immediately' means depends on how much warning you get before the emergency hits.
For emergencies that start slowly (like food shortages from drought) or with a little warning (like tropical storms), send an alert as soon as either the CO EPP triggers indicate a need to respond or national/international early warnings show that a humanitarian crisis is likely (e.g. the storm is about to hit).
For emergencies with no warning (like earthquakes), send an alert as soon as you know the event has happened.
Sometimes the REC, CEG in Geneva or CI Emergency Monitors are the first to know of a coming emergency. They will alert the CO. The CO must then immediately check what's happening and send a CI emergency alert if needed.
Sending an alert doesn't mean the CO or CI must respond
See protocol C5 for how CARE decides whether to respond.
Send an alert for any emergency where local response may not be enough
This means any emergency likely to cause humanitarian needs that local groups may not be able to cope with. See protocol A2 for more on this. Ask CEG for advice if you're not sure.