Africa's first United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team ready to be deployed

A disaster management training course was completed last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the aim of establishing the first African United Nation's Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Team.
34 participants from 14 different African nations took part in the two-week training course, organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Field Coordination Support Section in Geneva, Switzerland and supported by the OCHA Country Office in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian participants included professionals from the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Commission (DPPC) and the Ethiopian Red Cross Society.

"The UNDAC Team consists of disaster management professionals who are nominated and funded by member governments, UN agencies and international organisations and are permanently on stand-by to deploy to relief missions following disasters and humanitarian emergencies anywhere in the world" said Jesper H. Lund the course organiser.

"It was important to establish an African team as it will be able to respond faster to an emergency in Africa as well as have a better understanding of the culture and speak the language" said Mr Lund.

"Upon request of a disaster-stricken country the team can be deployed within hours to carry out rapid assessment of priority needs and to support national authorities and the United Nations Resident Coordinator to coordinate international relief on-site."

The team which is provided free of charge to the disaster affected country is responsible for providing first-hand information on the emergency situation and priority needs of the victims to the international community through OCHA. Its activities also strengthen national and regional disaster response capacity.

To date the UNDAC Team has conducted 123 emergency missions in more than 68 countries since its creation in 1993.

As part of the training course at the Ethiopian Red Cross Society Training Institute participants took part in a simulated earthquake exercise over a 24 hour period with the aid of local authorities including the Addis Ababa Municipal Emergency Fire Brigade, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Hayat Hospital and local media.

"One of the benefits of UNDAC training it that participants go back to their countries with new skills that they have learned and then pass it on to their colleagues and respective governments" said UNDAC trainer Edward G Pearn.

The participants are now qualified to be called upon to serve as part of African UNDAC Teams in future emergencies.

For further information contact: OCHA Information Officer Kirsten Mildren 444162