Short answer
Yes, to Muslim victims who are now in need, which after a flood, earthquake or war is usually most of them. The zakat must reach them as their own: cash, food, tents, clothes or medicine handed to families. It cannot pay for rebuilding roads, schools or masjids. Help non-Muslim victims from sadaqah.
A person whose wealth has been destroyed, and who no longer owns the nisab beyond basic needs, may receive zakat even if he was wealthy before. Relief counts as zakat only when it is handed into eligible people's ownership; services and public rebuilding do not.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Disasters turn people who were comfortable into people in need overnight. The Prophet ﷺ named the man whose property was wiped out by a calamity as someone allowed to ask for help until he has enough to live on. Such people are among the poor and needy of Quran 9:60, and many are also in debt or stranded far from their homes.
Zakat can provide:
- Cash grants to families.
- Food parcels, water, clothes, blankets and hygiene kits handed out to people.
- Tents and shelter materials given to families as their own.
- Medicine given to patients, or their treatment paid at their request.
- Help for people stranded away from home, under the share for travellers.
Zakat cannot provide:
- Rebuilding roads, bridges, schools, hospitals or masjids.
- Shared facilities that no one owns, such as a field hospital or a water plant.
- Salaries and logistics of a charity, beyond what a Muslim government's appointed collectors may take.
Emergency appeals often mix zakat and sadaqah. Choose the zakat option, and ask the charity how it spends zakat (see paying zakat through a charity). Sending zakat to another country is allowed and is often the best use in an emergency (see sending zakat abroad). If a disaster strikes before your zakat date, you may pay in advance (see paying zakat early).
Non-Muslim victims should be helped generously from sadaqah (see charity to non-Muslims). The four schools agree on this outline.
The evidence
Quran, Surah At-Tawba 9:60
۞ إِنَّمَا ٱلصَّدَقَٰتُ لِلْفُقَرَآءِ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينِ وَٱلْعَٰمِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَٱلْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَٱلْغَٰرِمِينَ وَفِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ ۖ فَرِيضَةًۭ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌۭ ﴿٦٠﴾
Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakah] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the [stranded] traveler - an obligation [imposed] by Allah. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.
Disaster victims fall under several of these groups.
Sahih Muslim 1044
Sahih... ورجل أصابته جائحة اجتاحت ماله فحلت له المسألة ...
"And a man struck by a calamity that has destroyed his property: asking becomes permitted for him."
Someone ruined by disaster becomes a rightful recipient of help.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the recipients (bab al-masrif). Who counts as poor, and the stranded traveller who has wealth at home.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on those to whom zakat may be given. No zakat for building works, since no one is made the owner.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.