We are shocked and saddened by the images coming out of Joplin, Missouri; other areas of the South and as far north as Massachusetts. The devastation and total destruction was  staggering. Houses moved or obliterated; families separated, survivors watching while loved ones were torn away right in front of their eyes; a huge scar carved through the ground. It really does defy the imagination. Those never touched by such fury cannot grasp the physical or emotional effects. Not from stories, not from pictures, not from video.

After a tragedy like this we are always asked “Is RescueNet going?” or, often less diplomatically, “Why isn’t RescueNet going?” There is a “simple” answer, but it’s never really simple for our team. Let me explain:

RescueNet’s mandate is to serve those in the developing world affected by natural or man-made disasters. Our primary focus is to assist those who do not have and cannot even comprehend the kind of resources we take for granted here in North America. Say what you will about FEMA and their response times and methods, most of the world would be utterly staggered to have even a fraction of those resources available to them. A massive organized, rapid response like we have come to expect is nowhere in their mental construct. That’s where we want to be – where we are truly needed. That’s the simple answer.

The complicated part? Well, do we want to be in Joplin? Of course. We are a team of people with huge, compassionate hearts. We want to be alongside everyone who is hurting. Everyone we can help. We are also a team of volunteers with limited budgets and vacation days (yes, most of our team use vacation time for these responses.) We need to use our resources wisely, discerningly. Where can each of our personal dollars and our donors’ dollars be put to the best use? Thankfully our tax dollars and many volunteers from across the country have poured in Joplin and the surrounding communities. It is still a long, heartbreaking road for everyone in that affected area, but help has come and is coming and will continue to come.

Does that mean we would never respond to a disaster in North America, Europe or other developed nations? Of course not. We weigh the information on each tragedy we see in a lot of prayer. Every crisis is on the table. This year already we have tracked, evaluated and prayed through over a dozen crises from the US to Madagascar. We are a lot more likely to go to an impoverished region than a wealthy, prepared one, but we will make ourselves available anywhere we can truly be of service to victims of mass catastrophe. Someday there could be another Katrina, or another Northridge quake. We would probably be there. If something of that scale happened somewhere without FEMA teams, we would almost definitely be there.

(Click here for before-and-after satellite imagery.)

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

This month has been unlike any other for the Middle East and North Africa. Country after country is experiencing some sort of grassroots uprising. Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran… at some level all these nations are on the break of a new day. Hopefully a better day. I am not saying anything negative with that comment, just a hope that any change anywhere is for the better.

RescueNet is monitoring the situation there as best we can considering it is constantly changing. At this point we do not have a team on standby, but we are still gathering information. We will keep you posted. For the latest, please follow us on Twitter: RescueNetUS and Facebook

Thanks,
Dave

How can I help best?

Chances are you are like me when a disaster strikes. When you see the images and hear the stories, you want to help, and help the best you can. Chances are equally good that you have no intention of jumping in to a disaster like my team and I do. That’s fine. We all play our part. There are goers and there are senders. Both are equally important. As our slogan says “Because you send us, we can go; because we go, they can live.”

I get a lot of calls and emails when a disaster breaks from people who want to know how to help. There are many, many ways to help, but not all are created equal. Here are a few tips to make sure you are doing the greatest good with your time and money.

#1 Send money, not stuff. I love the heart of community and church volunteers who coordinate clothing drives, canned food drives and the like. I have also seen first-hand piles of culturally-inappropriate clothing scattered along the side of roads in distant countries being destroyed by vehicles driving over them, or huge shipping containers full of rotting food because the right forms weren’t filled out or the locals are demanding a “special tax” to bring items into the area. Very sad, but very true.

#2 Send it as close to the crisis as you can. Sending money to a reputable firm in the affected region means that they know how to get supplies into the region, who truly needs the help and they can buy supplies at local cost, rather than the US cost plus shipping.

#3, And this is truly the number one principle I can share: do some homework, preferably ahead of time. There will be many more disasters following the last one. There are a lot of groups that will ask for money. From “text-to-give” numbers to websites to 800-numbers, you will be bombarded with heart-tugging pleas for your money now.

Before you dial or punch in your credit card info, be sure you know who you are contacting. Most of these firms are reputable, but some are shams that play of the emotional crisis response we all have. Even if they are reputable, how do they use your money? How efficiently is your money getting to the actual victims? Is it going to administration or publicity expenses? Is it getting lost in shipping charges?

The best way to know this is to have someone on the ground you personally know who can verify this information. This can be extremely difficult, but it is one advantage of RescueNet (not to advertise ourselves too heavily.) There is a very short line of accountability from donating to our office to getting on-the-spot reports of what we are doing and where, exactly, that money is going. Your money is not going into a large pile in some bank somewhere; it is coming into and going right back out.

In fact, our people go on their own money, so there is a high level of accountability and caution as we spend. Your money joins ours, or helps replenish our stock as we go and pay it ahead. When we return we will be sure to send everyone who has sponsored our work first person reports, photos and stories. You are only one-step removed from being on the field. When requested, we will even send someone from the team to visit your sponsoring church or group whenever possible. We really are your hands and feet in a disaster and want you to feel as close to the field as possible

If you don’t have a first-person view, you can do some homework. www.ecfa.org is great for researching any faith-based groups. http://www1.networkforgood.org/for-donors is a connecting point for donors and recipients. They do their homework on their partner agencies. You can also check through leading financial publications like Kiplingers, CNNMoney and The Wall Street Journal.

That’s a longer-than-usual post, but it is an important topic. I hope we RescueNet can be your representative during the next crisis, but if not, please make sure your money and time are used wisely. There are many people out there who need it. Let’s do our best with it.

Some of the saddest words I have ever heard are “I meant to…” or “I was going to…”
“I meant to learn CPR, but just never found the time.” “I was going to lock the medicine cabinet, but…” “I meant to review my training so I would know how help that patient…” “I was going to check my fire extinguishers…”

Working in the medical and trauma counseling communities over the years, I have heard many heartbreaking stories that started with phrases like these. Many good intentions that were never followed through on have led to incredible tragedies.

The good news is you can learn CPR in half a day. You can develop a family emergency plan in a few hours. You can get podcasts and audiobooks on any of these subjects that you can listen to on your commute.

The time to learn is now. The time to prepare is now. If you don’t know something now, you won’t know it when you need it. You can’t study CPR while someone is having a heart attack. It’s not smart to wait to install an escape ladder until your house is burning. It’s negligent to postpone practicing patient assessment until you have one in front of you.

Here are some resources to start with. You should also contact your local health or fire department for information specific to your community. Let us know if you’d like more help. We’re here to serve.

http://www.ready.gov/

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/CPR_UCM_001118_SubHomePage.jsp

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=aea70c45f663b110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

We are so thankful that Tomas has passed over Haiti with as little damage as it did. It could have been far worse.

Let’s continue to stand with Haiti as the rebuilding work is still in it’s infancy.

Preparing for the worst

For those of you wondering exactly what a WFR (“Woofer”)  is and why I love them and we need them, this should give you some context. It’s an article from the Journal of Emergency Medical Services on exactly why WFR’s rock, and why, when the world falls apart, we’ll be the ones putting it back together.

Enjoy!

http://www.jems.com/article/major-incidents/consider-wilderness-medicine-t

We now have photos from our Haiti deployment online. Please go to our Media section:
http://www.rescuenetus.org/picturesvideo/deployment-media