Typhoon Haiyan and the Professionalization of Disaster Response

When international medical response teams landed in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, they had to act as professional humanitarian responders. Medical responders to disasters can help best when they are well prepared and function as part of a coordinated effort. When international medical response teams landed in the Philippines last November in the days and weeks after Super Typhoon Haiyan hit, it was immediately apparent that they needed to act as professional humanitarian responders. The top priority was not that they deploy their medical skills but that they support the plans that were already in place. Although there were posters directing foreign medical response teams to register with the Philippine government, the trucks loaded with bags of rice from the World Food Program being delivered to the Department of Social Welfare and Development should have tipped off the response teams . . .