Dear Friends

We have been deployed in Haiti on the front line of the Earthquake Disaster Response for a week.

We have stayed here in Port Au Prince, Haiti on the grounds on an airfield by the UN base. There is no access to water, toilets, electricity or Internet. (I am here using UN / Military internet connection.) The team are well in good spirits. Many lives saved and medical treatments and operations.

We have fixed bones, debrided major life threatening wounds with septic infection and muscle tears, stabilised and treated with medicines, intravenous infusions, injections and surgeries. Food and water is still a major problem which is a frustration. (The fact that they are pulled out of collapsed buildings or displaced, we treat them for medical emergencies and then the next day there is no food or water for them to build their strength.)  We have cared for elderly and young alike… sadly lost many too that we just could not treat.

As well as Medical treatment and delivery of medicines, we also arranged for ERT SAR deliveries of aid and NFIs (Non Food Items) like Tents, Food and Water to an Orphanage and field hospital where we were working.

Website updates soon www.ert-sar.org.uk – we stand down and return today arriving back in the UK on Tuesday morning in Heathrow.

Thank you all who have supported us. Thank you so very much. We are a small but very effective charity. All our specially qualified members are unpaid volunteers and we have no paid administration costs. The money and aid we get is efficiently channelled to those that need it and we go there to give it personally. When we get back to the UK we shall see if there is anyway we can continued our aid support.

Our Doctors and Paramedics did an amazing job, working as a team in the front line and did treat and save many many people. We were proud of the rescue effort here. We did get frustrated at some of the coordination and logistical challenges and lack of food and water for the people of Haiti, where we were working. Transport is a real issue. Having a casualty to move and a hospital to receive and no way to get there there due to impassable roads and a lack of vehicles. Although we sometimes needed armed escorts for safety and security reasons, including guns shooting in our hearing range, we were never threatened and in fact, were welcomed and treated very well by all the Haitians we came into contact with. 

We were very proud, pleased and honoured to be able to help so many people first hand.

To actually be able to see and touch the people who needed the help was a humbling and honourable experience.

Gary Foo
SAR Chief
United Nations Coordinator &
Disaster Paramedic (UK No. PA18092)
International Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor

The Emergency Response Team
Mailing and Local Address
ERT Search and Rescue
Henley Business School
Greenlands, Henley On Thames
Oxfordshire, RG9 3AU

LONDON: ERT Search and Rescue
145 – 157 St John St, London, EC1V 4PY
Tel: +44 (0)87123 66 345   Fax: +44 (0)87123 66 346
Email: gfoo@ert-sar.org.uk   Web: www.ert-sar.org.uk
International NGO & Charity 1102722 and non-profit corporation: 6812681

To support ERTSAR go to…

 http://www.justgiving.com/Haiti