USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) Deploys to Liberia
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov/
Press: (202) 712-4320
Public Information: (202) 712-4810
2003-074
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2003
Contact: USAID Press Office
Washington, D.C. - On August 6, a USAID three-person Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) arrived in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Additional members, including a Food for Peace Officer, Water and Sanitation Officer, Logistics Officer, Communications Officer, and two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health experts, plan to deploy to Monrovia during the week of August 11. The team had been in Freetown, Sierra Leone since July 20th due to the security situation in Liberia. On July 21, USAID also activated its operations center and a Response Management Team (RMT) to serve as the focal point of communication with the DART.
A serious humanitarian crisis has developed in Liberia due to the country's ongoing civil war between Government of Liberia forces and two opposition groups that control between 60 to 80 percent of the country, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). On July 19, LURD, the main opposition group, launched its third major offensive since June in Monrovia. The political and humanitarian situation worsened on July 28 when MODEL attacked the port city of Buchanan, Liberia's second most populated city. The humanitarian situation in the country is now dire, with food and potable water extremely scarce, fears of a growing cholera and malaria epidemic, and a shortage of fuel that has hindered the operations of humanitarian organizations.
To date, the U.S. Government has provided more than $9.5 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Liberia.
Once the initial DART members determine the extent of the humanitarian crisis, the DART will eventually expand to include members of other U.S. Government agencies, including USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
A DART is a rapid response management team composed of disaster relief specialists who conduct assessments, identify and prioritize needs, manage onsite relief activities, recommend response actions, and coordinate with affected country and other response organizations. The teams are typically deployed after devastating disasters of significant magnitude. DARTs have been deployed world-wide, including deployments to Iraq immediately following the aftermath of the recent conflict, to affected populations in Angola's 27-year civil war, and to provide humanitarian relief to communities affected by the drought throughout Ethiopia.
More information on the humanitarian crisis in Liberia and the Mano River basin.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
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