`Rapid response' units set up to tackle overseas crisis

"RAPID response" units of qualified medical and nursing staff are to be set up to assist in humanitarian emergencies overseas according to Ms Joan Burton.

The Minister of State for development co-operation has said recruitment of suitably qualified personnel will begin shortly and training for the first batch of participants will start next month.

A humanitarian liaison group will ensure that the response of Government Departments and aid agencies is properly coordinated during emergencies.

Ms Burton's announcement fulfils commitments made in last year's White Paper on Foreign Policy, which promised a more systematic Government response to conflicts affecting developing countries.a

Officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Agency for Personnel Service Overseas have worked on plans for the rapid response register over the past year.

Initially, participants will be drawn from all the caring professions. People with communications and logistics skills are likely to be recruited later.

By the end of the year, about 100 personnel will be entered on the register.

Most are likely to have previous experience of working in emergency situations and will be recruited by APSO through the aid agencies or by direct mailshot.

International aid agencies, including Concern, already operate rapid response teams which were developed following criticism of delays in getting aid to people during the crises in Ethiopia and Somalia.

The liaison group should streamline procedures for granting leave of absence to public sector workers on the register and clarify the situation regarding pension rights and seniority.

People working in the private sector will also be "facilitated and encouraged" to place their names on the register.

Ms Burton told a Concern conference yesterday that emergency situations required as much systematic analysis and planning as any long-term development or rehabilitation programme.

"It is very easy when faced with a humanitarian crisis to rush in with well-meaning but ill-conceived and badly-planned interventions.

"What has become abundantly clear in recent years is that this type of approach does far more harm than good," she said.

The necessity for an immediate response, however, should not let the international community off the hook.

"The provision of emergency assistance does not take place in a political, social, economic or environmental vacuum, she warned.

Ms Burton also announced a grant of £25,000 to the emergency nutrition network set up by the department of community health, in Trinity College Dublin.

This aims to keep aid agency staff informed of advances in emergency feeding.