UK Search and Rescue Response to Haiti Earthquake
Johnnie Walker from Sussex Search and Rescue has yet again kindly written a piece for Re-Search with his views on the UK’s search and rescue response to the events unfolding in Haiti.
Are you going to Haiti?
A number of colleagues have asked me in the last couple of days if SusSAR is heading out to Haiti, to help look for survivors. It seems that people’s understanding of the situation is somewhat naïve. Although we all get a feel good feeling from the thought of UK Fire and Rescue Professionals trekking into the country with the heavy lift kit and SAR dogs, you have to ask if this is an appropriate use of resources. As Search and Rescue professionals we all know that difficult decisions have to be made. We search some areas several times while not searching others because this best serves the misper. Therefore, is the expense, and logistical demands of western search teams really justified, when people who have already been found, and rescued, are lying in hospitals alongside corpses, dying due to a lack of basic medical care?
The people of Haiti need food, clean water, shelter, and basic medical supplies. To believe that they need SAR resources is to completely fail to grasp just how bad their situation is. Diverting local resources and supplies to look after westerner rescuers will lead ultimately to a higher death toll, though it will make good telly.
Therefore, don’t book your flight. Listen to the Sex Pistol’s ‘Holiday in the Sun’ and give every penny you can to the Disaster Emergency Committee. www.dec.org.uk It is hard for pro-active people to sit on our hands, but it is necessary if we are going to put the people in need first.
This view is shared by many others; I have often referred people to a 2003 Guardian piece by Nick Cater – All Search, No Rescue. However, here is your chance to air your view…
January 14, 2010
· 
Robert Bradley · 
9 Comments
Tags: DEC, Disasters Emergency Committee, Earthquake Response, Haiti, Johnnie Walker, Sussar, Sussex Search and Rescue, UK Fire Service Search and Rescue Team, UKFSSRT, Urban Search and Rescue · Posted in: Guest Posts, Search Thoughts
9 Responses
Always nice, as an author, to pen a piece, only to discover someone else has written the same thing, several years earlier, and in better prose.
;-(
["Therefore, is the expense, and logistical demands of western search teams really justified, when people who have already been found, and rescued, are lying in hospitals alongside corpses, dying due to a lack of basic medical care?"]
This presupposes that the ‘expense and logistics’ of SAR Teams is actually preventing basic medical care from happening. I think in reality the millions of pounds (or pick your favourite currency) that is being sent to Haiti in aid outweighs the western SAR effort as to make it miniscule. If basic medical care isnt happening then it isnt because of a few hundred SAR personnel from around the world.
["Diverting local resources and supplies to look after westerner rescuers will lead ultimately to a higher death toll, though it will make good telly."]
Though the same can be argued for the thousands of aid workers (and reporters I might add) from around the world who will either already be on the ground or are heading to Haiti. I’d like to see more information on the ‘footprint’ of international SAR teams, to know what impact they have before I’d start talking about higher death tolls.
["give every penny you can to the Disaster Emergency Committee"]
Yes absolutely, ultimately it is money that is the best way that the overwhelming majority of us will help Haiti.
I agree with the basic principle of what Johnnie is saying, however I dont think you can apply that principle on something the scale of Haiti. When thousands are dead or dying, you cant quantify cost versus reward in the same way.
On the radio this morning I listened to the story of a father of 2 young girls rescued from a building collapse, as he was sitting in a hospital with one of his daughter. She had 2 broken legs and a head laceration that, as described, went from ear to ear, you could hear her in the background. No doctor to treat her, no medication. His other daughter didnt make it.
He didnt say who rescued the girls but for all I know it was a Western SAR team, and I’m not sure where the doctor is going to come from to treat this girl, perhaps he/she will be a westerner as well?
I prefer to think that the UK fire service doesnt send that level of personnel and equipment out without having thought it through.
Actually Johnnie, I prefered your article to Nick Caters.
Besides which you didnt generalise international SAR workers as ‘over enthusiastic’
maybe things have changed since I was involved in International USAR, however when I was involved the whole point was to minimise our impact on the local community and therefore not using up native resources was high on our agenda.
So much so, that we not only took out our own food, but we even brought home our own waste that was difficult to dispose of, such as batteries etc…
If we are spending our own money, then we can buy lots of guchi kit, attend lots of enjoyable but slightly irrelevant courses, and generally have a lot of fun. If we are spending other people’s money (charitable donations) then that has to be spent in the best interests of the people in need. In a situation this dire, we have to think in terms of lives saved per buck. Sounds horrible, but that is capitalism for you.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Just for your information; according to a respected member (American) of the SAR-L list,
“Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams rescued 37 individuals, and 69 rescues have been successfully conducted by 27 international USAR teams.”
and as radio 4 said this morning, with the cynism for which the BBC should be rightly proud; ‘These people will join the thousands already awaiting medical treatment’.
Jonnie,
Thanks for the piece, raising an important issue, International Search and Rescue does cost significant amounts per life saved. Everyone in the field of international search and rescue does recognise this however there are a number of very good reasons why international search and rescue is important and should be supported despite its apparent cost.
Firstly it is important to recognise that whilst the most cost effective method of saving life is aid, it takes time to mobilise aid. It does require a significant logistical effort to make assessments and then move the necessary aid. This takes time, and if we just provided aid, not just the immediate search and rescue assistance, the survivors could be waiting for days before any sign of assistance from the international community. I have worked in countries where people have thanked me because the only sign that the international community is supporting the survivors is the Union Jack on our overalls. You only have to look back at the Mexico City Earthquake in 1985 to understand how important search and rescue is to moral, and moral is critical to getting a country back on it’s feet as quickly as possible.
I think it is also important to realise just how effective international search and rescue can be. The current number of people rescued by international search and rescue in Haiti stands at 121 with about 1800 rescuers deployed, roughly one rescue per 15 rescuers. This ratio is not dissimilar to many other missions, including Pakistan. Of course there are missions where no lives are saved, for many different reasons, but equally there are also exceptionally successful missions.
Another point worth noting is that the Search and Rescue teams do not deploy just to undertake search and rescue. The United Nations guidelines for search and rescue teams (which can view at http://www.reliefweb.int/undac/documents/insarag/guidelines/topics.html) require teams to undertake co-ordination, rapid needs assessments, medical support, engineering support, hazmat and environmental assessment. Teams also often stay on after the rescue phase has been completed to provide humanitarian support. These roles are essential following a disaster, but aid agencies often are not able to deploy on a large scale with the same speed as the search and rescue teams. The search and rescue teams there can provide an essential head start in the relief process.
Daryl is also correct that a fundamental principal of search and rescue teams is not to use the host countries resources. The teams provide their own shelter, food, water purification facilities, and disposable items .They also often leave equipment behind such as generators, tents or water pumps where they might be useful to local population.
Humanitarian aid is a very complex field. Unfortunately it is not always about bang for your buck, otherwise every charity would be spending their money on clean water, mosquito nets and education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The international search and rescue response is an essential part of the relief process when countries suffer from massive and sudden natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti.
Johnnie,
Thanks for writing your thoughts down and starting this conversation. I found it when doing research for a similar piece for the Philanthropy Action blog and New Dominion Philanthropy Metrics.
I’d like to comment on what Kris says: “I don’t think you can apply that principle on something the scale of Haiti. When thousands are dead or dying, you cant quantify cost versus reward in the same way.”
It seems to me that when the stakes are highest, this is exactly when we need to be most disciplined in applying the cost vs benefit principle. I agree with Ian’s comment that it isn’t all about bang-for-the-buck. However, this should not trump Johnnie’s main point: we must learn from disaster in Haiti and improve how resources are utilized for maximum impact of beneficiaries.
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