Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance

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Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance

• Responsible for providing foreign disaster
  assistance and coordinating the USG response to
  disasters abroad.
• Authority comes from the Foreign Assistance Act
  of 1961, as amended.
• OFDA mandate is to Save lives, reduce suffering,
  and alleviate the economic impact of disasters.

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Disaster Assistance and Response Team (DART)

• One of several response options for OFDA
• Operational element within OFDA
• Tested and codified organizational structure
• Staffing, managing, training and equipping from
  existing resources
• Experience from many previous deployments
• Field Operations Guide

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Disaster Assistance and Response Team (DART)

• Operational ground presence to carry out
  sustained relief activities
• Develops and implements OFDAs humanitarian
  response strategy
• Coordinates USG relief efforts with
• UN/IOs and NGOs
• Donor nations
• Military
• Host Nation

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Disaster Assistance and Response Team (DART)

• Coordinates commodity shipments
• Expeditiously funds relief organizations
• Monitors and evaluates USG funded relief
  activities

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DART Organization

• Approximately 60 personnel
• Unified management
• Four operational components
• Core DART plus three field offices
• Multiple Offices Multiple Agencies
• OFDA, FFP, OTI, ANE, GH
• State/PRM, CDC/PHS
• Phased Deployment based on ability to access
  populations and implement programs

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DART Admin

• Phased Deployment
• Maximize number of operational days
• Minimum required footprint
• Pre-deploy selected individuals to Amman, Turkey,
  and Kuwait
• Call forward of remainder of team
• Rear operations under of direction of Plans
  Officer

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DART Admin

• Lodging and accommodations
• Authorities
• Chief of Mission
• US Central Command (CENTCOM)
• Personal Equipment
• Remote location kits and PPE pre-positioned in
  theater
• Bring personal demand items as required

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DART Admin

• Travel Authorization/Orders handled by OFDA
• Training Extensive Training Package to support
  operations in a hostile and austere environment
• Additional/refresher training conducted in the
  field
• CBRNE, Communications, others as required

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DART Training Courses

• Orientation to OFDA
• DART/RMT Training
• Assessment
• Intro to Field Communications
• First Aid and Trauma Meds
• CBRNE Tier II
• Vehicle Safety and Security
• Landmine Awareness
• Hostage Survival
• Working with the Media
• Stress Management
• Military 101
• International Humanitarian Law and Principles
• Iraq Country Briefing
• IDP Camp Management
• Women and Children Protection
• Food Distribution and Feeding Centers
• Shelter Construction and Plastic Sheeting
• Human Rights, Protection and Stability

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• DART Deployment Sites
• Kuwait City
• Amman
• Diyarbakir
• Deployment in-country dependent on security
  situation

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• DART In-country Deployment Sites
• Kuwait City
• Baghdad
• Basrah
• Erbil
• Al Hillah

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DART Roles

• Coordinate and disseminate Humanitarian
  Information
• Facilitate HA operations
• UN/IO NGO - Military
• Conduct assessments of Humanitarian Situation
• Expedite Commodities and funding for implementing
  organizations
• Call forward expertise and commodities to address
  needs of vulnerable population

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DART Roles

• Facilitate and implement Transition Activities
• Assist in Protection activities and prevention of
  civilian atrocities
• Assist in provision and delivery of food
  commodities
• Facilitate Development activities through
  coordination with MIW, GH, DG, and ANE staff
• Assist in coordination of consequence management
  activities

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DART Sectors

• Health, Water/Sanitation, Nutrition
• Food Distribution
• IDPs and Refugees
• Shelter
• Protection and Prevention of Atrocities
• Commodity and Grant Expedition
• Transition Activities
• Consequence Management Assistance
• Reconstruction Coordination

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Water and Sanitation

• Most urgent sector
• Assess damage to water supply and sanitation
  facilities
• Determine wat/san needs in major urban centers,
  villages, rural zones, and camps
• Develop an operational plan for minimally
  adequate levels of potable water, sanitary
  excreta disposal, and waste water removal

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Water and Sanitation

• Assist in developing strategic plans for
  rehabilitating and reconstructing wat/san
  facilities throughout Iraq
• Primary partners CARE, UNICEF, WHO, ICRC, OXFAM
  and other NGOs
• Rapid assessments to identify sources of potable
  water
• Call forward additional expertise and equipment

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Health

• Prevent excess morbidity and mortality through
  effective response in public health
• Primary health care
• Preventative health response
• Assess local health infrastructure
• Health facilities
• Availability of medicines
• Immunization status
• Health care capacity

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Health

• Assess basic statistics, level of communicable
  diseases, severe trauma, etc
• Assist in facilitating treatment for civilian
  casualties
• Assess the environmental status with respect to
  vector control and wat/san
• Develop linkages with Iraqi MOH, IOs, and NGOs in
  the region
• Facilitate establishment of nutritional programs,
  where required
• Primary partners UNICEF, WHO, ICRC, NGOs

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Food Distribution

• Assist in provision and distribution of food
  commodities to meet the needs of the Iraqi
  population
• Coordinate with and assist WFP
• Focus on reestablishing the existing PDS
• Assist in facilitating Port operations
• Assess and respond to food needs for displaced
  populations

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Shelter

• Assess emergency shelter needs
• Assess and respond to displaced populations
  needs
• Develop an operational plan to distribute and
  monitor plastic sheeting
• Facilitate procurement and distribution of tents
  for environmentally insecure populations, if
  required
• Primary partners NGOs, UN Habitat, UN Agencies

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Logistics

• Support humanitarian response through
  prepositioning of commodities and establishment
  of logistics system
• Commodities to meet needs of 1 million
• Warehouses located throughout region and
  worldwide
• Delivery of commodities by most effective means
• Air, sea, or overland

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Logistics

• Commodity Stockpiles
• 10 liter water containers
• 3,000 gallon water tanks
• 10,000 and 11,500 liter water bladders
• Hygiene kits
• Plastic Sheeting
• Blankets
• WHO Emergency Health Kits
• LMS Water Purification Units

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Protection and Prevention of Atrocities

• Protection Officer and Abuse Prevention Unit
  added to DART structure
• DART not the primary implementation agent
• DART will assist in development of prevention
  strategy
• DART will assist in coordination of prevention
  programs
• All field elements tasked with assessing
  potential atrocities
• DART core (especially Info Officers) tasked with
  identification of potential problems

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Transition Activities

• Transition Activities led by OTI staff on DART
• Core DART will facilitate access and
  implementation
• Primary activities include (but not limited to)
• Assisting media and information activities
• Small grants to jump start activities
• High impact/high visibility projects

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Consequence Management

• Primary DART function is protection of DART
  members from exposure/risk
• All DART members required to have PPE within
  reach
• DART role in larger CM effort not clarified
• DART staffing and training can assist in
  call-forward and facilitation of CM teams from
  inter-agency arena

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Military Liaison

• Military Liaison Officers integral to overall
  effort
• DART will coordinate with, but not subordinate to
  the HOC
• HOC function is to facilitate civ-mil information
  and assist in access for humanitarian community
• MLOs will be located in the Core DART, Field
  Teams, and at CENTCOM Forward
• Primary effort will be with the Civil Affairs
  units
• DART will assist CA units with HA assessment
  mission

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Reconstruction Coordination

• DART will coordinate and assist with larger
  reconstruction effort, when possible
• DART ANE staff primarily responsible for passing
  information to/from MIW, GH, DG, and ANE staff
• DART will coordinate activities with
  reconstruction effort in order to enable
  expansion of initial projects
• Every effort will be made to avoid stand-alone
  activities

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Security

• Security is non-negotiable
• Security Officer has the authority to speak for
  Team Leader
• Security plan will be refined in country
• Evacuation plans All elements of the DART will
  have and understand the evac plan
• Each field element/assessment team will have a
  situation specific evac plan prior to mission
• Primary, secondary and tertiary

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Relief Activities

• OBJECTIVE Provide Emergency Humanitarian
  Assistance
• Support to IDPs including registration,
  monitoring, food support through WFP, and support
  to IDPs and host communities in water/sanitation
  and primary health
• 112 compact water treatment units and 7 plants
  completed to date nearly 200 more ongoing or
  planned
• 49 hospital/clinic rehabs completed 131 more
  ongoing or planned
• 7.5 kilometers of water networks completed, 216
  more ongoing or planned
• More than 2,000 health care professionals trained
  at health centers throughout Iraq

Progress as of 9/16/03
More Information at www.usaid.gov/iraq
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DCHA/OFDA Response Management Team

• Chief purposes
• Support DART field operations
• Report humanitarian information to global
  audience
• Oversee Washington-based support
• Single USAID point of contact for inter- and
  intragency coordination of relief/operational
  activities
• Planning and strategy development
• Allows for unity of effort and streamlined
  management structure

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DCHA/OFDA Response Management Team

• RMT provides necessary support to a deployed DART
  team
• Manage USAID response activities
• Coordinate interagency cooperation
• Full-time, focused, and continuous attention
• Flexible organization
• Allows for management of entire Agency portfolio
  Operational to Strategic

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DCHA/OFDA Response Management Team

• Five Core Functions to Support Operations
• Management including press, interagency
  coordination, information, and financial
• Planning
• Logistics
• Administration Field and Washington based
  support
• Communications and Records

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DCHA/OFDA Response Management Team

• Established structure
• Policy and Procedures published and in place
• Tested, trained and exercised
• Proven success in large crises
• Comprehensively addresses Agency and USG
  requirements
• Augmented by non-DCHA staff and skill sets

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USAID Senior Management DCHA ANE/Technical
Bureaus PPC Other USG LPA
Senior Management Team
USAID Sr Rep
DART
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USAID Senior Management DCHA ANE/Technical
Bureaus PPC Other USG LPA
USAID Sr Rep
DART