“I automatically knew I would be on the next plane out,” says Colin Chaperon as he recalls the events from January 12, 2010. Colin had just walked into his home after picking up his son from daycare, when he saw on CNN that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake had struck Haiti. He knew instantly that a response was imminent. He had been to Haiti in 2008 as a lead responder during hurricane season, so he understood firsthand how fragile the infrastructure was. Since he had previously worked in Haiti and is fluent in French, Colin was a perfect candidate for deployment. He flew down to the Dominican Republic the very next day on a 6 am flight. From the Dominican Republic, it was a 12-hour bumper-to-bumper car ride to Port-au-Prince.

Colin was the featured speaker at a Briefing on Haiti’s Recovery that was held at the Fairfax office of the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region. The Briefing commemorated the one-year anniversary since the earthquake. Since 2006, Colin has been working as a Field Operations Officer in the International Services Department at the National Headquarters of the American Red Cross.  He explains, “As Field Operations Officers we are prepared to respond internationally when the American Red Cross is invited to do so by the affected host Red Cross or Red Crescent society.”

In Haiti, Colin initially served as the Team Leader of the RELIEF Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the American Red Cross. Later he also served as Relief Coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, an umbrella organization based out of Geneva which coordinates the work of the 186 Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world, including the American Red Cross. Working hand-in-hand with the Haitian Red Cross, the teams worked to develop a cohesive service delivery plan to identify the immediate needs of the most vulnerable, overseeing the distribution management process of non-food household items such as shelter kits, tarpaulins, blankets, kitchen sets, hygiene kits, mosquito nets, buckets, and jerry cans. 
 

Colin’s involvement with the American Red Cross began back in 2000, when he became a volunteer at the Alachua County Chapter in Gainesville, Florida. After 9-11 he moved to the Northern Virginia area, volunteered as part of the Red Cross efforts at the Pentagon and eventually became staff at the former Arlington chapter overseeing emergency response efforts. He became part of a regional consortium, the Washington Metropolitan Area Consortium (WMAC). The aim was to enhance coordinated response efforts to large catastrophic events by sharing resources and aid, participating in joint regional training exercises, creating a strong leadership team, and operationalizing disaster response in the region. Through this consortium, five independent chapters were able to enhance their collaboration. The Regional Disaster Coordination Center (RDCC) located at the Fairfax office grew out of this initiative. 
 

When Colin speaks of his work with the Red Cross he says, “Everyday is different. I work with great people, who are all motivated by the same mission. We are here to alleviate the pain and suffering of people in need.” He feels fortunate to have the chance to travel and do work he feels passionate about “to make a small difference.” He is also very appreciative of the incredible professional experience he had working in the former Arlington chapter and with the regional consortium. He describes it this way: “I had a lot of support from the senior leadership team. They put a lot of trust in me and provided me with many opportunities to grow. I also worked with an extraordinary base of dedicated volunteers.” Colin feels he wouldn’t be in the position he is in today if it hadn’t been for this remarkable group of people.
 

As a result of his many years in emergency response coordination, Colin is convinced that it’s absolutely essential that in order to have an effective international response, response systems and processes need to be in place at the domestic level. He believes that our collective ability to respond locally to events in our own backyard is the key to preparing to respond to disasters overseas. As he puts it: “Preparedness begins at home. We need to continue to support grassroots level preparedness in our local chapters.” He explains that in Haiti, if it had not been for the many local volunteers who came from the very communities that were affected, the response would not have been as effective. Haitian volunteers were not only skilled in search and rescue, CPR and first aid, but they were also equipped with a sensitivity and understanding of their country’s politics, language and culture.