Funding Gap for Haiti Earthquake Response
Due to the complex logistics of a deployment to Haiti and with the estimated cost far exceeding mission funds available, IRC was unable to deploy an immediate search and rescue team to Haiti which has left team members despairing that they cannot help.
Willie McMartin, IRC Operational Director explained the problems facing the Corps;
The decision not to mobilise is one of the hardest and most upsetting we have ever had to take. It was a very complex decision and its roots began many months or even years ago.
As we continued to remain a purely voluntary organisation, without paying professional fundraising staff, it has been difficult to keep pace with the rising costs of search and rescue work.
Our skills have also been increasingly recognised in the UK and as a result we have become more active at home which has slowly eaten into cash reserves; rarely do we receive donations for responding to these UK incidents.
We have always kept a large mission reserve fund in addition to our operating finances but we first noticed a sudden rise in mission costs when the Corps attempted to attend the earthquake in China in 2008. We reacted by increasing our fundraising efforts to build up our reserves but this was against the backdrop of a recession.
In October 2009, we immediately responded to the earthquake in Indonesia, sending a team of 10 specialists with rescue equipment. The cost was in excess of £40,000 to the Corps but donations attributable to the mission totalled only £3,500. By the time of the Haitian earthquake, we had only managed to build our funds back to £30,000.
Immediately we were alerted to the earthquake, we began to piece together the logistics for a potential mission; the movement of equipment and team in the UK during the severe weather conditions, air routes to the disaster area and the problems of onward travel from countries such as the Dominican Republic. In addition, we noted that regional search and rescue teams had already declared their intention to travel who were larger, geographically closer and able to respond quicker.
Finally, we had to consider the cost of the mission given our circumstances. The first time we have ever had to do this.
The stark reality was that our current mission fund was not enough to cover the estimated deployment costs. Meeting the shortfall from our day to day operating funds would threaten the very existence of the Corps.
Given the complex logistics and potential to arrive outside of the narrow window of opportunity to save lives, we believed that a late presence in the region would only serve to hinder the arrival and distribution of aid to Haitians in most need whilst threatening our own existence as an Urban Search and Rescue team.
Having to consider the ‘business case’ for a rescue mission is something I hope we, or any other team, never have to do again.
We sincerely wish our colleagues from the UK’s other rescue teams the very best of luck locating survivors and for a safe mission in Haiti.
BBC News - Cash fears scupper Haiti rescue mission
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Media Report - The Process of Search and Rescue
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