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They do, although there are some organizational aspects to consider. Each nation has its own Red Cross/Red Crescent/Red Diamond committee and draws first from i
by alwa 3y ago
They do, although there are some organizational aspects to consider. Each nation has its own Red Cross/Red Crescent/Red Diamond committee and draws first from its own local roster. Other nations request specific expertise from sister committees from time to time, but it’s pretty rare. The American Red Cross, for example, deploys about 2 dozen individuals to support foreign disaster relief operations in a given year. As I recall that involves mainly people who are really good at setting up comms infrastructure, management experts, and GIS experts.
The ICRC, as I understand it, works more across international lines, but their “technical” experts tend to specialize in aspects of international humanitarian law rather than technology per se.
You certainly can, though, support domestic relief operations for the American Red Cross. Disaster Support Technologies roles tend to have more of a helpdesk flavor than the remote, wild-and-wooly jack-of-all-trades kind of experience that the OP describes. And there are also information and planning functions on large disaster relief operations, where your data analysis and GIS chops might be put to good use.
Those jobs sometimes unfold in austere conditions—think after a hurricane or a wildfire—but they’re extremely well-supported, by contrast to the OP’s missions: you’ll have a safe and dry place to sleep, plenty to eat, the national warehouses will get you the stuff you need (albeit maybe not today), and so forth. The training is thorough and the crowd is mission-oriented. You can even work I&P roles remotely.