The Red Bulletin April 2020

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Top: a ‘greyshirt’ surveys the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas last September. Above: volunteers rescue a survivor of Hurricane Harvey, which caused catastrophic flooding in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017. Opposite: providing support and reassurance in the Northern Mariana Islands 54 THE RED BULLETIN
Team Rubicon TEAM RUBICON “ALL THE GRATITUDE YOU RECEIVE FROM THE SURVIVORS IS JUST SO POWERFUL” “It looked like a nuclear wasteland,” Wood says. “All the trees were snapped off 8ft [around 2.4m] above the ground and bent back in one direction, like a nuclear blast had hit them. Every power line was down, every building destroyed.” REBUILDING HOMES AND LIVES In the reception area of Team Rubicon’s national operations centre in Grand Prairie, Texas, is a cartoon mural of former US President Theodore Roosevelt in boxing attire, leaning against the ropes after a tough round in the ring. Alongside are headshots of the company’s hardest working employees of the last quarter, and a quote from Roosevelt’s 1910 speech The Man in the Arena: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…” “Our CEO thinks the man in the arena is the one who should get the press and recognition,” explains William ’TJ’ Porter, deputy director of operational support, whose own picture is among those hanging on the wall. After a 13-year career in the military and then as a law enforcement officer, Porter joined Team Rubicon in 2012 and has since been deployed to the aftermaths of multiple tornadoes, wildfires, and more. “Team Rubicon sets itself apart [from other relief organisations] in two ways,” he explains. “We can either be part of the response, doing everything from searchand-rescue to felling trees and opening up roads, or we can provide direct assistance to survivors.” The latter usually involves helping those with no or little insurance to return to their home. Team Rubicon will gut the entire house, then refit new flooring and dry wall – an initiative that has sparked a long-term rebuilding programme in Houston. Assisting in this way is, Porter says, one of the most gratifying parts of the job. “When something like [Hurricane Harvey] happens, people don’t know where to turn. We get them to a point where they have a stable house to live in. All the gratitude you receive from the survivors is so overwhelming. To see someone go from being in shock, with a 20,000-yard stare, to realising ‘Hey, at least I have something now, and I can build from there’ is really intoxicating.” The team’s Texas office is one of three in the US, housing a total of 150 full-time staff. Just a short car ride from Dallas, the base was chosen for its central location and for its proximity to two international airports. Team Rubicon moved here in early 2016 and now has 29 staff working in the office. There are no fancy flourishes here; it looks like they turned up one day four years ago, dumped their stuff and got to work. It is from this office that all operations are organised, including transportation, logistics, field leadership and mobilisation. Team Rubicon operates domestically and internationally, with operations planning associates Adam Martin, Lauren Vatier and Jacqueline Pherigo scrubbing news sources daily to track developing situations. Should a disaster occur, the question is whether Team Rubicon has the capabilities and resources to support another operation alongside those already in progress. “Any time we have volunteers in the field already, our priority is taking care of them, whether it’s smaller localised operations, or volunteers heading to an international response,” explains Martin. “What do we need to do to support them? What do they need today?” Part of this involves liaising with other organisations to see what response is being arranged elsewhere and how Team Rubicon can best support this, Vatier explains. Occasionally, the request for help comes from outside agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO). It’s a point of pride that, following a rigorous 18-month process, Team Rubicon was the first NGO in North America to be WHO-certified as a mobile emergency medical team – “a tough credential to get,” says Porter. This means that it meets exacting standards for deploying units to remote or austere environments and remaining self-sufficient for up to seven days. In the back of the office space is a large warehouse area – essentially a survivalist’s wet dream – filled with everything from chainsaws and foldable cots to tech boxes. Each of the latter contains three laptops, five iPhones, a connector, a router and more, ensuring that each team remains connected in THE RED BULLETIN 55
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