INSARAG Haiti Earthquake Response

As the humanitarian coordination body of the United Nations, the
mandate of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is to
ensure efficient and coordinated response to emergencies. This mandate
requires coordination amongst all the humanitarian actors, especially at
the very first phase of an emergency. As one of OCHA’s primary partners
in the critical life-saving phase of emergency response, the International
Search and Rescue Advisory Group was once again at the forefront of the
international rescue and relief operations following the devastating earthquake
which struck Haiti on 12 January 2010. OCHA - as the provider
of the INSARAG Secretariat and custodian of many of the international
community’s first response tools, such as the Global Disaster Alert and
Coordination System (GDACS), the Virtual On-Site Operations Coordination
Centre and the United Nations Disaster Assessment & Coordination
(UNDAC) team - worked around the clock to facilitate information sharing
amongst all responders. OCHA immediately deployed a team of UNDAC
members – many travelling to the disaster site with international urban
search and rescue (USAR) teams - to support operational coordination of
USAR teams on the ground throughout the rescue phase and to jumpstart
OCHA’s humanitarian coordination activities of the international humanitarian
response.
The INSARAG network grew out of lessons learned from earthquake
response. The 1988 Armenia Earthquake was the trigger for its creation.
International urban search and rescue teams rushed to assist the country
in its rescue efforts, but there was no communication, no system of
coordination. Teams worked wherever they found a need, rather than
be directed to where there were priority requirements for the kinds of
technical expertise and equipment they possessed. Recognising that this
was not an effective way to respond, INSARAG was created in 1991, to
set up a system of operational coordination, to foster minimum standards,
to work to common methodology and guidelines. The work of
INSARAG and its methodology was endorsed by the United Nations General
Assembly Resolution 57/150 of 2002 on “Strengthening the Effectiveness
and Coordination of International Urban Search and Rescue Assistance”.
First on the ground, USAR teams work hand-in-hand with local response
teams, bringing additional expertise and technology to assist where
needed, where local resources may be lacking. In addition to search and
rescue support, INSARAG USAR teams provide medical support and are
often providers of the first assessments, the first information to come
out of a disaster site, the first indication of needs and priorities.
This information is shared with the international community, through
the Virtual OSOCC and on the ground, to assist planning and targeting
of international humanitarian relief efforts.
When the rescue phase draws to a close, INSARAG teams move to
recovery activities, helping extract bodies for burial – so important to
families and loved ones – rubble removal, structural evaluations, always in
support of local teams, always in coordination with other response efforts.
INSARAG has always collectively evaluated its response, recognising the
importance of sharing experience to bring improvements to the INSARAG
Guidelines and methodology. Thus, the Haiti Earthquake After-Action
Review Meeting took place in Switzerland on 02-03 June 2010, hosted by
the Swiss Government. This publication is an example of how INSARAG
methodology is taken forward as a living process, summarizing the many
recommendations to come out of the USAR community’s experiences in
Haiti with the aim of enhancing the quality of collapsed structure disaster
response.