Archives Home 2004.12.26 TSUNAMI. International Medical Corps

International Medical Corps This was sent by a close friend, Ellen Agler (who recently joined the International Medical Corps (IMF)) as she headed toward the areas struck by the disaster. To make contributions please visit the International Medical Corps website About Ellen: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 (audio interview, 2nd down) | 6 Dear Friends, Family and Colleagues, Those of you who know me well know that I never send group emails. Actually, I’m pretty sure this will be my first one. But it seems an occasion worth contacting you all. I am currently sitting in a transit hotel in Tokyo en route to Indonesia to help lead a disaster response team to provide medical care and supplies to victims of the recent and horrific natural disaster. When I got on the plane in Los Angeles yesterday, I knew there were almost 30,000 deaths across the countries affected by the earthquake and tsunami, with a staggering 5,000 just from the small province of Aceh in northern Indonesia. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have been displaced and affected by the tragedy. When I got off the plane today in Japan to transfer onto Jakarta, I was stunned to see on CNN that the death toll had risen to above 60,000 across the many countries affected, now with over 32,000 dead counted in Aceh alone. By the time I found an internet station hours later, the numbers for Aceh were an absolutely inconceivable 45,000 dead and the total across all countries affected is over 75,000. I knew my mission was to be a critical one to helping ensure that medical supplies and personnel were deployed to reduce the spread of illness and disease that has already begun in the aftermath of this crisis, but I think it is only now sinking in that I am part of responding to one of the greatest humanitarian natural disasters in history. As many of you know, I recently took a new job as Director of International Operations at International Medical Corps (IMC), a disaster and relief humanitarian organization based in Santa Monica, California. After seven extremely rewarding and wonderful years at Operation Smile, I decided to accept the offer from IMC to play a senior role in managing their international health and development programs in over 20 countries and put to use more broadly my education in disaster management, humanitarian affairs, emergency public health and international development that I received during these last few years of graduate work at the Harvard School of Public Health and the London School of Economics. While my IMC tenure has been short, it has been amazing to be part of such a dynamic and talented team doing important public health work in some of the most complicated and critical spots on earth. IMC has thousands of employees across the globe working full-time on such diverse projects as therapeutic feeding centers for severely malnourished children in places like Ethiopia and Burundi, health clinics at refugee and displaced persons camps in eastern Chad and Darfur, water and sanitation projects in Iraq, and microfinance and food aid programs in Eritrea. IMC has been working in Indonesia for a number of years, with a staff of almost 80 people rehabilitating hospitals, training medical professionals, and implementing programs to improve the health status of vulnerable populations in the poorest and most remote parts of Indonesia. IMC also has quite a history of disaster response in Indonesia. They provided services during the aftermath of the Bali discotheque bombing a couple of years ago as well as with the Jakarta bombing earlier this year. As part of these projects, they trained many medical personnel and government officials in disaster management. From initial conversations I have had with our team in Indonesia, many of those that IMC trained in disaster preparedness are now playing critical roles in the response to the Aceh crisis. The stories I’ve heard from my counterparts in Indonesia are absolutely awful. Some staff members from Aceh lost their entire families – grandparents, cousins, brothers, parents – all on that one day. Some have yet to hear news from their family members as communication has been extremely difficult in and out of the province. One person packed his bags and just started driving north on the long drive from Jakarta to Aceh to see if he make it across what have been deemed impassable roads. The country director says the major priority is still burying the literally thousands of dead bodies which pose a serious public health threat. Yesterday, I was interviewed by phone by a local NPR reporter as I sat at my departure gate at LAX. One of her questions was, “With tragedy and suffering on such a massive scale, what are you going to do first? How do you triage?” In a blur, I responded vaguely about priorities to get sanitation and hygiene kits to the region, ensure there is enough safe food and water for those still alive, and make sure that we are coordinating properly with other agencies to avoid duplication of services. But in the back of my mind I thought, good question – how in the world are we going to set priorities in this massive of a disaster. I can’t imagine even the most experienced aid worker would look at the massive amount of debris, dead bodies, homeless, and sick not feel overwhelmed. I do know for sure that I arrive in Jakarta on Thursday afternoon local time and will roll up my sleeves and get to work liaising with potential donor governments in Jakarta and ensuring we have the staff capacity we need to respond by hiring new people and organizing local volunteers. A small IMC assessment team departed for Aceh yesterday and I’m waiting to hear news of their reports. I will meet on my arrival with the United Nations coordinating agency, OCHA, to participate in the discussions of needs and how the humanitarian organizations will divide up the huge workload. Already the local Indonesia Red Cross is very involved. The international funds and charitable agencies will just be beginning to arrive. Since IMC has such a significant history in Indonesia and so many staff on hand that are familiar with local culture and languages, I have no doubt that IMC has a big role to play in effective response. I heard a few hours ago that we have confirmed a core of local Indonesia doctors, nurses, logisticians, and water sanitation experts ready to be deployed. They have requested some technical experts come in from abroad. The team at IMC and I are in the process of putting together a rapid assessment team, first for Indonesia and with plans to dispatch additional teams to Thailand and Sri Lanka if needed and if funding is available. And I’ve begun negotiations at IMC to ensure that we are looking both to how to best respond in the coming days and weeks as well as what kind of longer term reconstruction and rehabilitation projects we have the capacity to undertake in the coming year. So many people’s lives have been turned upside down. There is tremendous need for ongoing rehabilitation of health clinics, training of local health workers to help cope with the large loss of medical personnel in the disaster, building new wells and infrastructure to make sure that people have safe and reliable sources of drinking water, and designing locally appropriate mental health programs to help deal with the massive amount of personal trauma and post-traumatic stress. I really do always cringe at asking close friends and colleagues for donations to causes I am involved in. But if you are at all inclined to support humanitarian efforts to deal with the aftermath of the Asia tsunami, I can attest that the IMC programs in Indonesia will be managed by a competent team and deliver top-notch emergency medical care. And I will be there to send reports from the front line on who is being helped and how. There have been announcements in the last day of funding promised by various governments – from the US to Australia and the European Union. I will certainly be negotiating in Jakarta to see if IMC can access some of this funding for our response efforts. Unfortunately though, government funding typically is not disseminated very rapidly, and the onus is on humanitarian agencies is to raise the money needed for the immediate rapid response assessment phase from private donors. While IMC does run over $40 million of programs every year (over $80 million if count in-kind donations), almost all of their money is tied up, legally restricted to existing projects. I am worried that unless we raise the money needed immediately – at least $50,000 just for the Indonesia rapid response – we will not be able to be an effective force in alleviating suffering and saving lives in the coming weeks. We are also discussing sending teams quickly to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and this will only be possible with additional private funds. If you have anything from a few extra dollars to even a few thousand extra dollars to spare, whatever your situation, I think this will one of those absolutely clear and unquestionable times in life when your donation is absolutely needed and will most certainly help to save lives. If you don’t have the extra cash, please no worries. Maybe you could include in your prayers or meditations, or whatever way you send subtle support, to the many, many aid workers who are now and who will continue to work tirelessly in the weeks to come. Also, if you like, feel free to forward this email on to others who may be looking for a way to help. Since I heard about this crisis early Monday morning to the moment I departed LAX on Tuesday mid-day, I have been so amazed at the many, many phone calls to IMC of people wanting to help in any way they can. I think that while the devastating reverberations of this tragedy will continue for generations, there are also extremely touching and inspiring moments and stories to hold on to as well. The profound compassion, conviction to help and sense of connection with people halfway across the globe that so many people have expressed really keeps me and so many others motivated to continue to do as much as we can. With sincere thanks, Ellen Agler International Medical Corps 1919 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 300 Santa Monica, CA 90404 For more info or to donate: visit www.imcworldwide.org or call 1-800-481-4462 IMC is also a registered charity in the UK www.imcworldwide.org.iu