Disaster Assistance Response Team
Encyclopedia
The Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) (French: Équipe d'intervention en cas de catastrophe (EICC)) is a rapidly deployable team of 200 Canadian Forces
personnel. It provides assistance to disaster-affected regions for up to 40 days. DART's headquarters is in Kingston, Ontario
. DART was created by the Canadian government in 1996 in the aftermath of the inadequate response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide
, when Canada's aid arrived after the peak of a cholera
epidemic. The government determined that it would be of the utmost importance in many disasters if it was able to rapidly deploy a group of people until long-term aid arrived. DART has an annual budget of CAD
$500,000, although during specific incidents the Parliament can choose to temporarily allocate millions of dollars to DART to fund their response effort. For example, Operation Torrent, the aid mission to Turkey in the wake of the 1999 earthquake
which left 17,000 people dead, saw CAD
$15 million used by DART in the response.
. Typically, upon a request from the government of the affected country, the Canadian government will dispatch its three person Strategic Support Team (SST). The SST members are from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA
) and the Department of National Defence (DND
). For all DART missions DFAIT is the lead department representing the Government of Canada. The SST will assess the situation and submit its recommendations back to the Government (of Canada), who will decide if the DART can or cannot be of assistance. If it agrees to provide assistance, it will dispatch an additional group of nine personnel who will make preparations to receive the remainder of the team into the affected area. They usually stay for a minimum of 40 days.
, a category-5
hurricane, struck Central America
over a period of three days. As a result, 6,000 people died and over a million were missing or made homeless. DART situated themselves in the middle of the Rio Aguan Valley, in north-central Honduras
. Because there were many isolated communities that were connected only by then-broken roads and bridges, DART was supported by four CH-146 Griffon helicopters from the Canadian Forces Base at Petawawa. By the end of the mission in mid-December 1998, DART had delivered 250,000 pounds of food and medical supplies throughout the valley. They also produced thousands of litres of clean drinking water and chlorinated local wells supporting approximately 15,000 people. Working with the medical personnel in Honduras, DART treated about 7,500 patients for ailments such as respiratory infections, conjunctivitis
, skin infection
s, diarrhoea, parasitic infections and intestinal infections. It also helped repair roads, bridges and electrical systems.
, which had 180,000 people. During this mission, DART personnel assisted in cleaning up a school, restoring electricity and designing and constructing a tented camp which could hold 2,500 people. This camp also had washroom and shower facilities. DART treated 5,000 patients and produced 2.5 million litres of bulk water.
that occurred on December 26, 2004. The reconnaissance team left for Colombo, Sri Lanka on December 30, 2004. A commercial plane carried a reconnaissance crew with representatives from Foreign Affairs Canada (three), Canadian International Development Agency
(two), Public Health Agency (one), and DART itself (six). Prime Minister
Paul Martin
announced his plans to send DART into the region on January 2, 2005. Four days later, a plane carrying 150 DART members departed for Ampara
, Sri Lanka
. On January 8, 2005, 50 more members arrived. Sri Lanka suffered tremendously as a result of the earthquake, the Canadian government stated that their relief efforts were to be concentrated there. They set up their main camp in a former sugar factory.
Ampara is cited as being one of the most affected by the tsunami. The Canadian government estimates that 105,560 out of the 600,000 people living in the city had been forced to seek temporary shelter. An estimated 10,400 deaths occurred as a result of the earthquake. The DART team brought four water purification units, which can provide up to 200,000 litres of clean water per day. It also provided primary medical care, some special engineering capabilities, and communications between DART, Sri Lanka and other relief organizations. The mission was expected to last six weeks. Their first task was to supply hospitals with potable water, (which they hoped to achieve by using their water purification units, which can purify 150,000 to 200,000 litres per day). Thus far, DART has treated 5,800 patients and produced more than 2.5 million litres of purified water. They have also helped repair schools, clear rubble, build temporary shelters and repair fishing boats and water mains in Sri Lanka.
The lack of an immediate response by what was supposed to be a rapid-response unit aroused significant criticism. Although the DART team was ready to leave within 24 hours of when the disaster struck, the government took two days to announce that the team would be dispatched, and it took nearly two weeks for DART to actually leave for Sri Lanka, due to a lack of available air transport. These delays notwithstanding, the DART chief, Michael Voith, commended DART's work, saying: "What I can tell you after this mission is the organization of the DART that we have right now ... is a sound organization, it brings an incredible capability to a disaster area". John Watson of CARE Canada
, responded by calling the operation an "amateur" response. Voith dismissed these remarks, saying that the team filled a "critical void." DART supporters have also noted that the initial response (i.e. digging people out of collapsed buildings, providing surgery/immediate serious trauma care for the injured), is not a DART responsibility. This is apparent from the fact that they do not have trauma surgeons, SAR assets, firefighters or other professionals who would be of critical importance during the very first days after a disaster. Rather, the job of DART is to mitigate the impact of the lack of critical infrastructure after a disaster.
of October 8, 2005. On October 14, three days after a nine member Canadian delegation left to assess the situation, Prime Minister Paul Martin
announced that DART would be going to the Muzaffarabad
region of Pakistan. The reconnaissance team arrived on October 16, the main force two days later. By December 9 all DART personnel had returned to Canada.
DART distributed 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid supplies and purified and distributed 3,811,535 litres of drinking water.
The team also provided medical treatment for 11,782 people, including:
to assist in the recovery effort after a massive earthquake
hit the country in January 2010. They will be working in tandem with 12,000 US MINUSTAH and 2,000 Canadian troops from the Royal 22nd Regiment (the Van Doos). Following an initial assessment and relief work near Port-au-Prince
, the DART team moved on to the Governor General of Canada
's home town of Jacmel
on January 18, 2010.
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
personnel. It provides assistance to disaster-affected regions for up to 40 days. DART's headquarters is in Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
. DART was created by the Canadian government in 1996 in the aftermath of the inadequate response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
, when Canada's aid arrived after the peak of a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic. The government determined that it would be of the utmost importance in many disasters if it was able to rapidly deploy a group of people until long-term aid arrived. DART has an annual budget of CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
$500,000, although during specific incidents the Parliament can choose to temporarily allocate millions of dollars to DART to fund their response effort. For example, Operation Torrent, the aid mission to Turkey in the wake of the 1999 earthquake
1999 Izmit earthquake
The 1999 İzmit earthquake was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:02am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing around 17,000 people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless...
which left 17,000 people dead, saw CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
$15 million used by DART in the response.
Goals
DART has four goals:- To provide basic medical care: To serve, with its medical platoon of 40 staff, up to 250 outpatients and 10 inpatients per day. Although the medical station will not perform surgery, it treats minor injuries and attempts to prevent the spread of disease. The aid station includes a laboratory, a pharmacy, limited obstetrics services and rehydration and a preventative medicine section.
- To produce safe drinking water: Water purification staff can produce up to 50,000 litres of potable water a day, as well as chlorinating local wells and monitoring water supplies.
- To repair basic infrastructure: Engineers can fix roads and bridges, repair electrical and water supply systems and build refugee camps.
- To make communications easier: DART sets up facilities to make communications easier between everyone involved in the relief effort, including the afflicted country, non-governmental organizations and UN aid agencies.
Organization
The team consists of:- a military engineer platoon with 37 personnel (field and construction engineers)
- a medical platoon with 40 personnel (doctors, nurses and medical corps staffers) who operate an aid station
- a defence and security platoon with 45 personnel (military police and soldiers who guard camps and support DART operations)
- a logistics platoon with 20 personnel to provide maintenance, transportation and supplies
- a headquarters platoon with 45 personnel who oversee operations and co-ordinate DART's response with other countries and aid organizations
Missions
The Canadian government decides whether or not to send DART after a request from a country or the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Typically, upon a request from the government of the affected country, the Canadian government will dispatch its three person Strategic Support Team (SST). The SST members are from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA
Canadian International Development Agency
The Canadian International Development Agency was formed in 1968 by the Canadian government. CIDA administers foreign aid programs in developing countries, and operates in partnership with other Canadian organizations in the public and private sectors as well as other international organizations...
) and the Department of National Defence (DND
Department of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
). For all DART missions DFAIT is the lead department representing the Government of Canada. The SST will assess the situation and submit its recommendations back to the Government (of Canada), who will decide if the DART can or cannot be of assistance. If it agrees to provide assistance, it will dispatch an additional group of nine personnel who will make preparations to receive the remainder of the team into the affected area. They usually stay for a minimum of 40 days.
Operation Central (Honduras), 1998
In October 1998, Hurricane MitchHurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch was the most powerful hurricane and the most destructive of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph . The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the season. Along with Hurricane Georges, Mitch...
, a category-5
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
The Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale , or the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale , classifies hurricanes — Western Hemisphere tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms — into five categories distinguished by the intensities of their sustained winds...
hurricane, struck Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
over a period of three days. As a result, 6,000 people died and over a million were missing or made homeless. DART situated themselves in the middle of the Rio Aguan Valley, in north-central Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
. Because there were many isolated communities that were connected only by then-broken roads and bridges, DART was supported by four CH-146 Griffon helicopters from the Canadian Forces Base at Petawawa. By the end of the mission in mid-December 1998, DART had delivered 250,000 pounds of food and medical supplies throughout the valley. They also produced thousands of litres of clean drinking water and chlorinated local wells supporting approximately 15,000 people. Working with the medical personnel in Honduras, DART treated about 7,500 patients for ailments such as respiratory infections, conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis refers to inflammation of the conjunctiva...
, skin infection
Skin infection
A skin infection is an infection of the skin. Infection of the skin is distinguished from dermatitis, which is inflammation of the skin, but a skin infection can result in skin inflammation...
s, diarrhoea, parasitic infections and intestinal infections. It also helped repair roads, bridges and electrical systems.
Operation Torrent (Turkey), 1999
DART responded to a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that hit north-western Turkey on August 17, 1999. DART was deployed on the following day and set up a camp in Serdivan, a suburb of AdapazarıAdapazari
Adapazarı is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country, known as the Marmara Region. As of 2010, the city has a population of 560,876 ...
, which had 180,000 people. During this mission, DART personnel assisted in cleaning up a school, restoring electricity and designing and constructing a tented camp which could hold 2,500 people. This camp also had washroom and shower facilities. DART treated 5,000 patients and produced 2.5 million litres of bulk water.
Operation Structure (Sri Lanka), 2004
DART responded to the Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
that occurred on December 26, 2004. The reconnaissance team left for Colombo, Sri Lanka on December 30, 2004. A commercial plane carried a reconnaissance crew with representatives from Foreign Affairs Canada (three), Canadian International Development Agency
Canadian International Development Agency
The Canadian International Development Agency was formed in 1968 by the Canadian government. CIDA administers foreign aid programs in developing countries, and operates in partnership with other Canadian organizations in the public and private sectors as well as other international organizations...
(two), Public Health Agency (one), and DART itself (six). Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
announced his plans to send DART into the region on January 2, 2005. Four days later, a plane carrying 150 DART members departed for Ampara
Ampara
Ampara is a remote city on the East Coast of Sri Lanka, about 360 km from the capital city of Colombo. It belongs to the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. It was a part of the domain of Kavantissa and was then known as "Ambaragama", which over the years changed to Ambara to Ampara...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. On January 8, 2005, 50 more members arrived. Sri Lanka suffered tremendously as a result of the earthquake, the Canadian government stated that their relief efforts were to be concentrated there. They set up their main camp in a former sugar factory.
Ampara is cited as being one of the most affected by the tsunami. The Canadian government estimates that 105,560 out of the 600,000 people living in the city had been forced to seek temporary shelter. An estimated 10,400 deaths occurred as a result of the earthquake. The DART team brought four water purification units, which can provide up to 200,000 litres of clean water per day. It also provided primary medical care, some special engineering capabilities, and communications between DART, Sri Lanka and other relief organizations. The mission was expected to last six weeks. Their first task was to supply hospitals with potable water, (which they hoped to achieve by using their water purification units, which can purify 150,000 to 200,000 litres per day). Thus far, DART has treated 5,800 patients and produced more than 2.5 million litres of purified water. They have also helped repair schools, clear rubble, build temporary shelters and repair fishing boats and water mains in Sri Lanka.
The lack of an immediate response by what was supposed to be a rapid-response unit aroused significant criticism. Although the DART team was ready to leave within 24 hours of when the disaster struck, the government took two days to announce that the team would be dispatched, and it took nearly two weeks for DART to actually leave for Sri Lanka, due to a lack of available air transport. These delays notwithstanding, the DART chief, Michael Voith, commended DART's work, saying: "What I can tell you after this mission is the organization of the DART that we have right now ... is a sound organization, it brings an incredible capability to a disaster area". John Watson of CARE Canada
CARE (relief)
CARE is a broad-spectrum secular relief, humanitarian, and development non-governmental organization fighting global poverty. It is non-political, non-sectarian and operates annually in more than 70 countries across the globe.One of the organization’s primary focuses in its fight to eradicate...
, responded by calling the operation an "amateur" response. Voith dismissed these remarks, saying that the team filled a "critical void." DART supporters have also noted that the initial response (i.e. digging people out of collapsed buildings, providing surgery/immediate serious trauma care for the injured), is not a DART responsibility. This is apparent from the fact that they do not have trauma surgeons, SAR assets, firefighters or other professionals who would be of critical importance during the very first days after a disaster. Rather, the job of DART is to mitigate the impact of the lack of critical infrastructure after a disaster.
Operation Plateau (Pakistan), 2005
DART responded to the 7.6 on the Richter scale 2005 Kashmir earthquake2005 Kashmir earthquake
The 2005 Kashmir earthquake was a major earthquake centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir, near the city of Muzaffarabad, affecting Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It occurred at 08:52:37 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October 2005...
of October 8, 2005. On October 14, three days after a nine member Canadian delegation left to assess the situation, Prime Minister Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
announced that DART would be going to the Muzaffarabad
Muzaffarabad
Muzaffarabad is the capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Pakistan. It is located in Muzaffarabad District on the banks of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers...
region of Pakistan. The reconnaissance team arrived on October 16, the main force two days later. By December 9 all DART personnel had returned to Canada.
DART distributed 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid supplies and purified and distributed 3,811,535 litres of drinking water.
The team also provided medical treatment for 11,782 people, including:
- 7,000 who received care from mobile medical teams airlifted by helicopter to their isolated communities.
- 2,637 who received care at the DART clinic in Gahri Dupatta.
- 2,145 who were immunized against a variety of contagious diseases.
Operation Hestia (Haiti), 2010
DART deployed to HaitiHaiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
to assist in the recovery effort after a massive earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
hit the country in January 2010. They will be working in tandem with 12,000 US MINUSTAH and 2,000 Canadian troops from the Royal 22nd Regiment (the Van Doos). Following an initial assessment and relief work near Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
, the DART team moved on to the Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
's home town of Jacmel
Jacmel
Jacmel, also known by its indigenous Taíno name of Yaquimel, is a town in southern Haiti founded in 1698. It is the capital of the department of Sud-Est and has an estimated population of 40,000, while the municipality of Jacmel had a population of 137,966 at the 2003 Census.The buildings are...
on January 18, 2010.
See also
- Disaster Assistance and Rescue TeamDisaster Assistance and Rescue TeamThe Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team is an elite team within the Singapore Civil Defence Force , formed in 1990 to handle complex rescue and fire fighting incidents, such as urban search and rescue; prolonged fire fighting; height and confined space operations; and water rescue.One of the very...
, an elite team within the Singapore Civil Defence Force - Canadian Forces Search and RescueCanadian Forces Search and RescueCanadian Forces Search and Rescue is the collective name used to refer to search and rescue resources and operations within the Canadian Forces. CFSAR is currently the responsibility of Air Command...
, domestic SAR - Heavy Urban Search and Rescue, a SAR team consisting of members of Toronto Fire ServicesToronto Fire ServicesThe Toronto Fire Services is part of the Emergency Services that respond to 911 calls in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Overview:The Toronto Fire Services is responsible for responding to fires, rescue and assisting with medical situations within the City of Toronto...
, Toronto EMSToronto EMSToronto Emergency Medical Services is the statutory Emergency medical services provider for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The service is operated directly as a branch of the municipal government as an independent, third-service option provider, which means that the service is funded by...
and Toronto Police ServiceToronto Police ServiceThe Toronto Police Service , formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the police service for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Canada and second largest police force in Canada after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police... - Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT), a grassroots humanitarian relief organization, consisting of physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses and paramedics from across Canada.
External links
- Backgrounder: Canadian Forces Disaster Assistance Response Team. 10 January 2005. Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces. 16 January 2005
- "CTV News." CTV News. CTV. 6 January 2005. 16 January 2005
- "DART departs for Sri Lankan mission." CBC News. CBC, Trenton, Ontario. 7 Jan. 2005. 16 January 2005
- "First DART jet arrives in Sri Lanka with supplies." CTV News. CTV. 9 January 2005. 16 January 2005
- "DART chief hails Sri Lanka mission." The Toronto Star. 9 February 2005.