An Emergency Medical Team (EMT) will be travelling from Cologne/Bonn Airport to Haiti on Thursday. There, the 33 doctors, nurses and paramedics will provide medical care to victims of last Saturday's earthquake disaster. The EMT is being provided by the aid organisation I.S.A.R. Germany and the Humanitarian Aid department of the BRH Federal Association of Rescue Dogs.
Injured people after the earthquake on 14 August 2021 in Haiti. Photo: REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
In consultation with the Haitian Ministry of Health, the aid organisations deploy what is known as an EMT 1, which means that patients are treated in a field-based emergency department with several medical specialities. The EMT has been certified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 2018. The team with members from North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Bavaria, Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania departs from Cologne/Bonn Airport on Thursday afternoon.
I.S.A.R. President Dr Daniela Lesmeister explained: "It is important for us to help the people in the disaster region. Many earthquake victims have not yet received any help. The I.S.A.R. Germany and BRH team has a lot of experience from other disaster relief operations and can help to alleviate the suffering of the people in the region." "Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world," says BRH President Jürgen Schart. "If thousands of people are now without medical care, then action must be taken as quickly as possible."
Eleven tonnes of equipment are also on board the special aircraft. This includes medicines, medical equipment, tents, stretchers and a water treatment plant. This can provide 5,000 litres of water per day. There is currently an acute shortage of medical care and supplies of water and food in the disaster region.
The team's deployment site assigned by the authorities in Haiti is just a few kilometres away from the epicentre of the quake on 14 August 2021. The south of Haiti was shaken by a magnitude 7.2 quake last Saturday. Around 2,000 deaths have been counted so far. At least 10,000 people have been injured.
Photo: Reuters/Ricardo Arduengo