USAID Dispatches USAR Teams To Japan

Washington, DC (March 13, 2011) -- The estimated death toll from Japan's earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear power plants soared past 10,000 Sunday as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns. Tens of thousands are missing and hundreds of thousands of people struggled to find food and water.

Two Urban Search and Rescue Teams from the United States are on the ground in Japan and being deployed to the devastated northeastern section of the country. Los Angeles County USAR, just back from deployment in New Zealand, and the Fairfax County VA USAR Teams are being joined by search and rescue teams from around the globe as they search through devastated coastal towns.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reports that a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has also been dispatched, along with the California and Virginia teams.

to be updated regularly

Rescue Turns To Recovery in Haiti

A German USAR team members searches a collapsed school. Photo by: FWNetz

Aftershocks keep USAR teams busy

By Lou Angeli

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (January 22, 2010) -- Despite extraordinary effort and teamwork – both above the rubble and below – there have been no rescues.in Haiti for nearly 48 hours. Family members of the missing, unable to rest and nowhere to go, stand at the edge of the destruction, watching – waiting – praying for a miracle.

Urban Search and Rescue Teams from around the globe have worked heroically since their arrival. But the mood has changed as SAR dogs consistently come up with no hits. Many of the rescuers have had little rest, and most offer their own rations (MREs) to starving Haitians who are standing nearby.

"Chances of finding additional live victims are very slim," says a New York USAR team member. "Trapped for 8 days, with no water...well, there's little likliehood for survival."

BREAKING NEWS: Late this afternoon, 10 days after the quake, an Israeli Defence Forces Rescue Team recovered a 23 year old male from the rubble of a supermarket. He was taken to the IDF Medical Compound where the man was said to be dehyrated but in good condition. A short time later, a 69-year-old woman was removed from the wreckage of a 3 story concrete building by a Mexican Rescue Crew. Her condition is critical, and doctors are not optimistic about her survival.

According to FEMA USAR Coordinator, Carlos Castillos, 6 U.S. US&R teams remain on the ground in Haiti, joined by a larger international force.

"As of January 21, international and U.S. US&R teams had rescued 122 individuals throughout Port-au-Prince, Haiti." Castillos reports. "U.S. US&R teams are credited with rescuing 43 of the 122. Search and rescue activities continue under direction of USAID and the United Nations."

Aftershocks -- some significant -- may cause additional collapses, so USAR teams will likely remain to conduct secondary reconnaissance missions throughout Port-au-Prince.

As of yesterday,7,000 patients have been treated by the 5 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs) from the Department of Health and Human Services and one International Medical Surgical Team (IMSuRT) in Haiti (all funded by USAID/OFDA). These teams treated 2,160 patients on January 20.

Each DMAT has 35 staff members and 40 beds and functions as a field emergency room, while the IMSuRT has 50 staff members and 35 beds and performs disaster surgery.

As of January 21 there are 20 U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships, 63 helicopters, and 204 vehicles in the joint operations area.

Although the rescue mission may have come to an end, the difficult task of recovery is just beginning.

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Haiti: Red Tape Endangers Lives!

Desperately needed supplies sit on the tarmac at PAP Airport while Haitians suffer and die.

by: Lou Angeli

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Thursday January 21, 2010) -- As of late Wednesday, International USAR teams have rescued 121 people from collapsed buildings in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake, according to Carlos Castillo, a spokesperson for US-based USAR teams.

The most recent rescue was that of a 5-year-old boy, who flashed a huge smile and flung his hands upward in victory, as a US-Hungarian rescue team pulled him from the rubble.

Currently, 43 international USAR teams, comprised of 1,739 rescue workers, with 161 dogs, are working in Haiti. 6 of those teams are from the United States – with 511 rescue workers from Fairfax County, Los Angeles County, Miami-=Broward, Miami-Dade, Virginia Beach, and New York. In addition, another 1000 or so EMT’s and firefighters from North America have self deployed,

working mainly in the villages surrounding Port-Au-Prince. In addition, there are 20 U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard vessels as well as 51 helicopters deployed.

As of January 20, more than 5,000 patients have been treated by Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs) from the Department of Health and Human Services. Despite DMAT efforts, officials estimate that approximately 2,000 injured Haitian injured are succumbing each day to infection and dehydration.

Most of the deaths have taken place in hospitals which have been staffed with volunteer physicians, nurses, paramedics and EMT’s from around the world. Why? These well-trained, highly motivated medical professionals are being denied medicine and equipment that is crucial to providing definitive health care.

“We’re working with a Civil War mentality.” said one Trauma doc from San Francisco. “With no meds or surgical equipment, we’re amputating broken limbs with hacksaws and without anesthetics, in order to keep infection from spreading so the patient will live.”

Many of the medical professionals who are working these “street hospitals” blame DMAT for hoarding medicine and equipment, which is simply being stockpiled at the Port-Au-Prince Airport.

“DMAT can’t meet the level of need here in Port-Au-Prince, They don’t have the numbers” one US nurse complained. “If lives are going to be saved, they (DMAT) need to come off those supplies and distribute them stat!”

Officials estimate that nearly 350,000 Haitians are walking wounded, many with serious injuries. They wait in makeshift EMS staging areas, laying on the ground in the scorching sun, hoping to be seen by DMAT or flown to the single operating room aboard the USS Vinson. For many, help doesn’t arrive in time – their dead bodies moved onto a pile to make room for other injured.

In the meantime, many drugs, especially antibiotics and pain meds, are being slipped into the country by newly arriving medical groups, which are not affiliated with DMAT. In my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware today, a plea went out to radio listeners asking them to check their medicine cabinets and dresser drawers for any antibiotics or pain medications which can be spared to support the effort of a local team of physicians and medical volunteers.

Denying life-saving medicine and supplies to other medical professionals, simply because they’re not wearing a DMAT patch, is absurd. Such thinking is based solely on the belief that unaffiliated volunteers, like the group from Delaware, should be banned from the disaster ground. But this isn’t a FEMA operation – it is a large scale disaster that is international in scope. The term SCUV* is not a four letter word in Haiti – here it is as important as the Star of Life.

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*SCUV – Spontaneous Convergent Unaffiliated Volunteer -- a term which arose from the ashes of 9/11, referring to those who willingly volunteered to serve during the crucial first 72 hours, when no "official" agency was set up to provide support to the rescue effort.


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Haiti Rescue and Relief Efforts

From Carlos Castillo (SFTF1 and SFTF2)

As of 1700 hours January 17, U.S. Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams had rescued 30 individuals from collapsed buildings, including one individual rescued at approximately 1615 hours local time and three individuals rescued overnight from the Caribbean Market. To date, international USAR teams have rescued a total of 62 individuals throughout Port-au-Prince.

View photos and video at United State Southern Command