A rapidly changing world is making complex humanitarian emergencies even more complicated and current responses less sustainable. New approaches can benefit the givers and receivers of lifesaving aid.
Introduction: Confronting Unprecedented Humanitarian Needs – Ambassador Mark A. Green
As a rapidly changing world creates new humanitarian needs, innovative approaches and new collaborations can help us rise to the moment.
Many of my most vivid memories from my time with the US Agency for International Development come from the agency’s humanitarian work around the world.
I was in New York City for the 2017 United Nations General Assembly not long after a devastating earthquake struck Mexico City. While walking to a meeting, I received a call from the White House to say that President Trump had offered President Peña Nieto “anything he needed” for his country’s relief efforts. The White House made it clear that it was my job to make that happen. After a couple of phone calls back to the agency, we mobilized a special search and rescue unit from Los Angeles that would reach the site before breakfast the following morning. Mexico was grateful, the White House was happy, and I was relieved.
I remember our responses to a range of humanmade disasters that occurred during my tenure like it was yesterday. There was my trip to Syria with the US Central Command when I was shown a burned-out soccer stadium in Raqqa and the remains of torture chambers that had been hidden under the stands. I was shown the makeshift centers where USAID and its partners were providing emergency food, water, and medicine to desperate Syrian families, and met with civil society groups working to establish the threads of community governance.
My time with USAID taught me so much about humanitarian needs. I learned that the men and women who spring into action when disaster strikes are talented, dedicated professionals, who are ready at a moment’s notice to mobilize and help families and communities get through their darkest times and deepest suffering…
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