Organising assistance with local people.
Just one day after the joint assessment team from I.S.A.R. Germany and the BRH Federal Association of Rescue Dogs arrived at the EU's external border with Ukraine, support for Ukraine is already in full swing. Since the four experts worked with the Krakow fire brigade in the Polish border region to determine the specific need for relief supplies and humanitarian support, I.S.A.R. staff in Germany have been planning the transport of these supplies.
The situation on the border with Ukraine is challenging, but the willingness of the many people to help gives hope, explains Dr Steven Bayer, head of the advance team: „Many people are already fleeing across the border to seek safety from the war in the European Union. However, Ukrainian and Polish officials report that even more people are on their way and are expected to arrive in eastern Poland in the coming days. Nevertheless, there is a great willingness to help here and it is possible to provide for the people according to their needs. In the war zone itself, however, relief supplies are urgently needed. In addition to warm clothing and food, medicines, medical equipment and bandages are particularly needed.“
RTL has launched a large-scale donation campaign to bring the required equipment worth several hundred thousand euros to the people in need. I.S.A.R. Germany and BRH are taking care of transport, order picking and logistics. With the support of pharmacies, department stores, haulage companies and many other organisations, the donations are to be transported directly and in several aid shipments from Hünxe (North Rhine-Westphalia) to a warehouse on the border with Ukraine. Ukrainian helpers will then take over the onward transport into the interior of the country.
At the same time, power banks, chargers and other technical infrastructure are still being collected to enable those seeking protection at the Polish border to communicate with friends and relatives. The transmission van provided by the company ixet, which can be used to set up a Wi-Fi network for up to 1,500 devices, is still on standby and will be brought to the border area if necessary.
In addition, the assessment team has already provided emergency aid on several occasions. In addition to around 500 sleeping bags, which they handed over to Ukrainian authorities in the „no man's land“ between Polish and Ukrainian border posts, they donated two power generators and several boxes of baby food and nappies. They also offered the local Polish authorities support in providing medical care for refugees and the wounded and demonstrated the deployment options of I.S.A.R. Germany's Emergency Medical Team (EMT), which is classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Immediate help was also given to a family who had to flee the war zone a few days ago and were brought to Germany from Poland by I.S.A.R. staff and are already receiving psychological and medical care from the aid organisation en route.