FEATURE
The earthquake in Haiti this year was particularly devastating. Amid a ruined infrastructure and an escalating security situation, the rescue operation required a highly coordinated response.
A complex
made homeless. Yet at 7.0 on the Richter Scale, the quake was only slightly more severe than the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 which, by contrast, resulted in the death of 69 people. The widespread destruction in Haiti was caused by a combination of physical, geographical and social factors. At least 10,000 buildings collapsed, including government, the UN and World Bank buildings, hospitals and police stations. In the face of such destruction, International SOS launched a complex operation in an extremely unstable environment.
T “We’d been
working in Haiti for many years, so we knew the geography and had pre-estab- lished contacts
Alex Puig 18 Hotline Silver Edition, 2010
”
Activating the response Within minutes of the quake at just before 5pm EST on January 13, International SOS activated its crisis management team at the Philadelphia alarm center. The team began assessing the logistical challenges and activated International SOS’ network of pre- established aviation, security and medical providers. Based on initial intelligence assessments, the team decided that the best move would be to take evacuees across the border to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. So International SOS sent a joint security and medical team to Santo Domingo to support air evacuations from Haiti, liaise with local medical providers and receive the evacuees. Less than eight hours into the crisis, the team in Philadelphia had estimated that more than 2,500 individuals were exposed to risk, representing more than 100 corporate, non-profit and governmental clients. The travel security team sent its first security
he earthquake in Haiti left an estimated 250,000 people dead, with around 300,000 seriously injured and more than 1.5 million
rescue
alert with recommended next steps for members. The medical team issued a medical alert with advice to up to 20,000 members, as well as relief workers and others contemplating travel to the earthquake zone.
Reaching Haiti
On January 13 the incident management team reached Port-au-Prince by helicopter and activated plans with International SOS’ Haitian security provider. Alex Puig is Regional Security Director for the joint venture between International SOS and Control Risks and co-led the crisis management team in Philadelphia. “We have considerable experience of this type of disaster”, he says. “Our position always is to assist and complement government and aid agencies’ response and provide non-disruptive, discreet evacuations for our members.” By the early hours of January 14, it was clear that the ruined transport infrastructure and high security risk levels would make it difficult for people to meet the team at a designated point-of-departure. “With the main airport only partly operational and still in chaos, our plan was to pick up members at risk, then transport them to a secure compound where food, water and other essentials would be available”, says crisis management team co-leader Colin Gilbert, International SOS’ Regional Director for Assistance Operations. In fact International SOS was the only assistance company to retrieve people from their accommodation.
Searching the city In what was already a relatively high-risk environment now made worse by the presence of armed gangs, the
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