Articles

3.2.3. International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

At the national level, National Red Cross Societies are early responders in disaster situations. In such cases, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) can mobilize regional disaster response teams made up of members of the National Red Cross Societies of unaffected neighboring countries to support needs assessment, relief operations for water, food and food security, health, and shelter, etc. Emergency response units can also be deployed. An Emergency Response Unit (ERU) is a team of trained technical specialists, ready to be deployed at short notice, which uses pre-packed sets of standardized equipment (equipment for logistics, relief, information and telecommunications technology, water and sanitation, basic health care, and hospital services). ERUs are designed to be self-sufficient for one month and can operate for up to four months.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the Pan American Disaster Response Unit (PADRU) coordinates these team. Headquartered in Panama, PADRU also has equipment and strategic supplies for disaster intervention in areas such as logistics, transportation, and communications.

A number of national Red Cross societies—German, American, Spanish, Canadian, Italian, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, Japanese, Swiss, and British—often dispatch international support teams for response or other types of disaster assistance in the Region. Their priority is normally to interact with the National Society of the affected country, but they also coordinate their activities with other national and international actors active in relief operations.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acts in situations of armed conflict and internal violence. Thus, it plays an essential role when disasters occur in countries where such conditions are present.

3.2.4. Humanitarian NGOs

The most active international NGOs involved in health in emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean include:

• Doctors without Borders: is active in situations of armed conflict, as well as endemic and epidemic disease. Its emergency response activities include surgery, psychosocial care, water and sanitation, and distribution of essential articles. Its emergency office in Panama is ready for immediate deployment to disasters in the Americas.
• Doctors of the World: is an international humanitarian organization providing medical care to vulnerable populations affected by war, natural disasters, disease, famine, poverty or exclusion.
• Medicus Mundi: conducts humanitarian aid emergency activities in countries where it is already involved in development action (currently Bolivia, Peru, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Brazil).
• Action Against Hunger: conducts emergency interventions in nutrition, water and sanitation, and food security
• OXFAM is an international confederation of 15 organizations that work jointly to deliver assistance in situations of disaster or conflict, with major impact in the areas of water and sanitation.
• The mandate of Save the Children is to protect children. In disasters it provides assistance in the form of food, medical care, and education.
  
   

To improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of humanitarian response to crises and increase the capacity of the principal humanitarian response sectors, the Interagency Standing Committee (IASC), as a coordination entity that includes the agencies of the United Nations System and other international organizations active in humanitarian assistance, established the thematic cluster system.