Thousands of lives can depend on the decisions made by those on the frontline of emergency response. This World Humanitarian Day, our virtual humanitarian ‘ops room’ puts you in the shoes of those at the centre of an international aid response and challenges you to make a call on the best way to save lives as a crisis unfolds in fictional K-land.

Experience the complexities of disaster response through our virtual ops room

In the ops room you’ll grapple with the difficult decisions faced by those responding to humanitarian crisis worldwide. Taking you from briefings in central HQ to responders the field, you are asked to make vital calls on the people, supplies and transport needed to effectively respond to a rapidly escalating crisis which threatens the lives of millions. This unique virtual reality tool will bring to life the realities of humanitarian response and holds potential to be developed into a training tool for those entering into emergency relief teams.

View our web interactive marking 25 years of disaster response

This virtual reality tool reflects our strong history of innovation. We invented, developed and shaped the UK’s global disaster response system on behalf of the British Government. Our new web interactive tells the story of the team who stood at the forefront of British humanitarian response for over two decades, responding to crises as diverse as floods, hurricanes and deadly pandemics. From delivering more than 200,000 tonnes of aid during the Bosnia crisis in the 1990s to sourcing and delivering the stocks needed to the build the first Ebola treatment centre in Freetown within 72 hours of the Ebola outbreak in 2014, our team moved critical supplies across the world at a moment’s notice and put support on the ground hours later.
Check out the interactive and hear first-hand from the humanitarians behind these responses here.