Baton Rouge, Louisiana 05 Sep 2005 -

IRC emergency response experts have begun assessing humanitarian needs in Baton Rouge in support of local relief efforts for people displaced by the hurricane disaster.

The seven member IRC team includes crisis coordinators and specialists in health, water, sanitation, emergency education and child trauma and refugee resettlement.

Team members are meeting with local authorities and community leaders, as well as representatives from the Red Cross and local churches who are running more than a dozen shelters housing thousands of stranded people.

"There is a tremendous amount of local energy and resources going into emergency assistance," says Mark Bartolini, an IRC team coordinator in Baton Rouge. "But improved information sharing and coordination would certainly help organizations trying to assist to better address the needs of the displaced." 

The IRC’s relief and resettlement experts are working to coordinate a rapid needs assessment in Baton Rouge and lending insight and expertise to local service providers in such areas as public health, psychosocial aid for children, family tracing and relocation of the displaced.

“Our initial impression is that there is urgent need for mental health programming for adults and children and that teachers in schools that are absorbing displaced children will need immediate training in order to address the psychosocial needs of incoming, traumatized students,” says the IRC’s Camille Evans, a specialist in aiding children in conflict.

The IRC, which usually focuses on humanitarian aid for victims of war and persecution, is responding in Louisiana at the request of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.  The foundation urged the IRC to help boost the capacity of local groups in addressing the needs of the massive displaced population, which is a focus of the IRC’s global humanitarian work.

The IRC’s 22 regional resettlement offices, with decades of experience helping refugees rebuild their lives in the United States, are also ready to respond.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, the IRC was asked by the governor’s office to begin providing essential services to hundreds of evacuees seeking refuge there from hurricane-affected states.

The IRC’s offices in Arizona and Georgia have offered local authorities similar assistance, including housing placement, and links to counseling and social services.

Generous volunteers and community groups in other cities have contacted the IRC to offer temporary shelter and other support, and IRC resettlement staff plan to link those in need with available opportunities. 

The IRC is committing its own resources to launch the initial emergency response and is accepting donations for its relief efforts in the Baton Rouge area and other parts of the country. 

For more information or to support the effort, click here or call toll free, 1-877-REFUGEE.

While the IRC’s mission is to provide humanitarian relief for refugees and displaced persons uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression, the organization does respond to natural disasters when they strike regions where the IRC is already operating.

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