Greetings International Friends and Partners,

I hope you are all well today. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement this week as we have been considering a deployment to assist Japan in the wake of such great tragedy.

After much counsel, prayer and communication between all our international offices, plus all the reports gathered from our men on the ground, international response groups and, to some degree, the media, the RescueNet International Council (RIC) has decided to stand down from a Japanese deployment. The reasons are many, but the essence is:

• Japan is a very developed nation. They are possibly the most prepared, organized and equipped nation in the world in terms of tsunami and earthquake response. Our mandate is to developing nations and/or places whose resources are completely overwhelmed.
• There is no invitation from the Japanese government. We cannot ethically proceed without this, or without some other official invitation in.
• The nuclear situation raises the danger to our team to an unacceptable level. The areas of greatest need are within or near this ever-changing zone.
• The work we would do, if we were invited in, is unclear at best. The Japanese government and MSF (Doctors Without Borders) have said that all medical needs are being met. Transportation and petrol are limited. We wouldn’t be able to get where we wanted even if we did get in.
• Besides the aforementioned hazards, multiple aid agencies have been turned away at the border. We don’t need to expend our time, money and energy on an expensive round trip ticket to nowhere.

I know this has been a very emotional event for many of you. We thank you for your prayers, your patience and your understanding as the RIC and our National Council’s have poured an incredible amount of energy into this situation. Please continue to pray for the Japanese people as they have a long way to go in mourning, assessing and rebuilding. We still have one team member in country who is assisting and coordinating with local agencies. If something significant changes the situation, we would certainly reevaluate our availability to deploy.

If you would like to contribute to the relief effort there, we can forward contributions directly to local relief agencies including CRASH Japan (www.crashjapan.com) or Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org) You can give directly to them as well.

RescueNet is continuing to monitor the unrest in Libya and throughout North Africa. Please continue to pray for these people. There crisis is ongoing and will create a tremendous number of casualties. RescueNet hopes to be part of the response in his region. We will let you know when that opportunity opens up. We would love to be your agents for healing and hope in that very troubled region.

Sincerely,

Dave

Dave Mansfield

US Coordinator, RescueNet

(on behalf of the RIC)

I don’t know how many of you have been able to follow the events in North Africa, but these are truly historic times in that region, and by extrapolation, for the world. It’s far too early to know what the eventual outcome will be, but things are definitely changing. Politically there has been massive upheaval and hopefully increased freedoms and justice will follow.

In almost any revolution there is sacrifice, often of lives. That is true in this case. While a relative few lost their lives in Egypt, which is still tragic, thousands have been killed and thousands more injured in Libya. 110,000 have already fled, mainly expatriates, and expectations are for around 300,000 to flee in the coming weeks, especially once Gaddafi is overthrown, which seems inevitable and close at hand. Hundreds or thousands are likely to be killed in the final fighting. Add to that the events in Bahrain, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq and beyond and it is easy to see a need for a prayer and tangible response.

Please pray for these people. Their worlds are turning upside-down and while there is much euphoria form those instigating the protest, it will be a long road rebuilding the structures, trust and leadership in their countries. Also, the loss and upheaval of life is tragic. The healing will go on as long as the rebuilding does. Pray for healing and freedom  to reach everyone in this region.

RescueNet is praying about what our response should be. We are not currently mounting a deployment, largely because getting specific, accurate information has been so difficult and also because of the obvious instability in the region. Recently we have made a few contacts who may be able to help us get better information. We are also considering sending in a RescueNet member to begin building relationship with contacts there and to get better on-the-ground information for our team. Please pray we move appropriately during this process and don’t just go ahead with our own plans. Without a doubt it is a dangerous place, and we don’t want to take unnecessary risks. We are a risk-taking organization, however and it may be time to get more involved. We need to be diligent, but not hasty.

Peace to you all,

Dave