Travis Betz, ARC/GNY Director of Logistics and Field Communication, is pictured, center, with fellow Red Cross International relief delegate Fiona Kot in Magsi, Pakistan. They are members of the Red Cross International Response Field Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) Team in Balochistan, Pakistan. (Photo: Carsten Lyhne, Danish Red Cross)

The following dispatch was sent on July 30 by Travis Betz, ARC/GNY's Director of Logistics and Field Communication, who was deployed for four weeks in July as a member of the Field Assessment and Coordination Team (FACT) in response to the floods and Cyclone Yenyim that devastated parts of Pakistan in June.

Field Assessment and Coordination Teams are ready to be deployed on short notice to coordinate the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's response to both sudden and slow onset disasters. Teams are composed of experienced disaster managers from National Societies, the Federation Secretariat and the ICRC who are trained in a common methodology.

Once FACT teams complete assessment and set-up work, Emergency Response Units (ERUs)—trained personnel and standardized equipment modules that provide an essential, basic and standardized service platform for use anywhere in the world —come in and provide assistance and support to the National Society. ERUs are fully self-sufficient for one month and can be deployed for up to four months.

The Field Assessment and Coordination Team wrote a plan of action for the Medical, Water and Sanitation, Logistics and Relief teams to be deployed by the Federation.  As relief delegate on a multi-sectoral team, I was involved in assessing the Qubo Sayeed Khan, Kamber-Shadakot and Jhal Magsi regions of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces.

Here is a breakdown of the FACT Emergency Response Units (ERUs):

• Medical Team:  mobile medical basic health care unit, Finnish Red Cross.
• Special Water (highly purified for medical purposes): water purification plant, Spanish Red Cross
• Mass Sanitation Unit (new tool of the Federation):  British Red Cross team to deal with complex sanitation issues, shelters and complex Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps
• Water and Sanitation Team:  water purification plant that will produce 40,000 liters per day, Austrian Red Cross Team
• Logistics:  joint team from Switzerland and Denmark in charge of multiple warehouses and transportation throughout the affected area.
• Relief:  Assessments and Distribution being managed by a National Disaster Response Team (NDRT). Pakistan Red Crescent Society has assembled an experienced team to run the operation. The team gained its experience responding to the 2005 earthquake. This is a good example of capacity building.

This has been a successful, well-managed FACT mission.  As I"ve learned from my more experienced teammates, these missions are extremely tiring due to the pace and geography we must cover in a short period of time.  When the assessments were completed (this took two weeks), we wrote a plan, briefed and altered our plan, then prepared for the arrival of our teams.

A regular day lasted from 7am to a final meeting at midnight.  Days off were not possible—the faster we finish the FACT mission the faster we get the relief in the hands of the thousands affected.

One of the most difficult parts of the mission was the assessment phase, when we would roll into a town with the International emblem all over our vehicle, and then have no supplies to give to people in dire need. The Pakistan Red Cross Society did a fantastic job of distributing what they had on hand—tents, food parcels.

The FACT mission will end tomorrow, July 31. I have handed over my responsibilities to the team leader for Relief.  In the remaining few days I will return to Karachi to process out of the Federation system and back to my responsibilities with the American Red Cross in Greater New York.

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