Any temporary shelter facility to protect people from dangerous elements may be called an emergency shelter. Emergency shelters are provided to people who have lost their homes or places where they lived due to natural calamity, war or disease. In some cities and towns there are permanent emergency shelters. These are run by private organizations and are used by people who may have lost their home in a fire or other disaster.

Any construction that is erected to provide people with temporary shelter may be called an emergency shelter. The most common type of emergency shelter used are tents. International organizations keep stocks of tents and send them wherever emergency shelters are required. Schools, colleges, churches and halls have also been used as emergency shelters. During World War II, the subway stations were used as emergency shelters.

An emergency shelter can be made from a variety of materials. In a jungle or wooded area, the branches are cut and placed on the ground and the leaves are spread over the top like a roof. This may be one of the most rudimentary forms of an emergency shelter that can be built.

If people have to live for an extended period in an emergency shelter, manufactured housing can be built. A manufactured home can be quickly assembled and provides better relief from the elements than a tent. An emergency shelter can also be built using empty bags filled with local soil and placed in a circle. The posts are placed on top and covered with a tarp or plastic sheet.

The earth mixed with straw and water is plastered on the canvas. The door and windows can be made using salvaged doors and windows or by placing a scrap wooden beam across the opening and hanging a sheet of cloth, tarp, or any other material. These types of emergency shelters were built in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake.

An emergency shelter must be built with the material available at the scene of the emergency. The emergency shelter has to be safe, protective and cheap to build. Women and children suffer the most in an emergency and require immediate shelter. Therefore, before any emergency relief can arrive, the materials available at the scene of the emergency must be used to build emergency shelters.

People cannot be expected to sit through thunderstorms, hurricanes, cyclones and wait for help to arrive. Downed trees, branches, and materials salvaged from collapsed houses and buildings have been used to build emergency shelters. People have been using their common sense and available materials to set up emergency shelters.

There are a variety of emergency shelters that have been built during an emergency around the world. China has had massive earthquakes and floods and the government has had to provide emergency shelters for people. The United States witnessed a devastating hurricane that left thousands of people homeless. There again the government and aid agencies moved in to provide emergency shelters. There is no single standard of emergency shelter being built. You have to build an emergency shelter with whatever materials are available.