Local humanitarian group focuses on disaster training
A Santa Monica nonprofit group on Thursday air-dropped 10 tons of emergency supplies into Indonesia and announced it will partner with an aid group helping to care for Sri Lankan children orphaned after last month’s deadly tsunami.
Those were just the latest relief efforts undertaken by the International Medical Corps, a 21-year-old humanitarian organization that last year distributed $62 million in resources with the help of 6,000 workers in 20 countries.
Working out of headquarters at 20th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, IMC has played a major role in the relief efforts following the Indian Ocean tsunami. That tsunami has claimed some 150,000 lives, and the death toll continues to rise.
Nancy Aossey, IMC president and CEO, said what sets the nonprofit group apart from most others is that it promotes education along with relief. Donations have been flooding in, especially after President George W. Bush urged America to turn out its pockets and put IMC on a short list of preferred organizations.
“It’s still pretty early, but we actually have been tracking that, and about 30 percent of the people making donations now are referring to the president’s initiative,” she said, adding most were individual donors. “We hope that that kind of interest continues.”
Started in Afghanistan in 1984, IMC provides health care training and relief, and development programs, said special projects manager Michael Holt. In Thursday’s air-drop, IMC distributed medicines, generators, medical masks, gloves, body bags and refrigerators, among other items, Holt said. The supplies were taken from Jakarta to Banda Aceh.
Tim Smith, a spokesman for IMC, also announced Thursday that the group had partnered with VeAhavta, a nonprofit group providing relief on the northeast coast Sri Lanka. Together, the groups will operate an orphanage and a mobile medical clinic.
Smith emphasized that IMC differs from its counterparts by focusing on local preparedness — educating resident doctors and other workers so they can take care of themselves. For example, IMC has had a presence in Indonesia since 2000. When the deadly tsunami hit last month, Smith said IMC had 91 staffers working there. Eighty-eight of them were natives.
“Our goal is to build local capacities to care for themselves,” said Smith, who added education continues even during emergencies. “Our niche is training, training, training.” (To learn more about IMC or to contribute, log on to www.imcworldwide.org or call the Santa Monica headquarters at 310-826-7800.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 7, 2005. Read the original PDF.