news - 15/01/2010 IRO with Teams of 5 nations in Haiti - Austria
by Paul Cech„International Rescuedog Organisation“ with Rescue Teams from 5 Nations in Haiti
Although the journey is problematically (the airport of Port au Prince is overstrained) Rescue Teams from five member organisations of the IRO „International Rescuedog Organisation“ have been sent out to Haiti .
These Search Teams come from Canada , Great Britain , Germany , Uruguay and South Korea .
Where exactly the teams are now working is yet unknown due to the constricted communication network.
Further search and rescue dog teams are on standby, but it is extremely difficult to get to Haiti . Many airplanes with rescue teams are waiting at several airports in southern USA and at various airports in the Caribbean . The small airport in Port au Prince is the “bottle neck” for all disaster relief teams. Arrivals are only possible during the day – the infrastructure is re-established bit by bit. Furthermore it takes time to unload the cargo machines. Afterwards the airplanes have to “park” at other airports, as the airport of Port au Prince is too small to handle all planes on the ground.
Dr. Wolfgang Zörner, President of the “International Rescuedog Organisation“: “We are of course permanently in contact with the operational organizers of the UN and through UN-statements we noticed that meanwhile further search and rescue dog teams are not requested anymore. The earthquake happened three days ago, so the chance for search dogs to find survivors is dramatically decreasing.”
As Dr. Zörner has heard from the disaster area, the primary task is meanwhile to ensure water supply and the supply of food and medicine.
