Presentation at the Innovation Theatre from Sean Binder, SAR Coordinator & Sara Mardini, Rescue Swimmer & Ambassador, Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI).

3. Panos G. Moraitis
Founder,
Maritime & Cyber security
Entrepreneur

4. Emergency Humanitarian
Aid as a response to the refugee
crisis in Europe

5. Greece has been in the forefront of the refugee
crisis - the worst the European continent
has experienced since World War II.
Since the crisis began 1,077,348
people arrived in Greece, over half on the shores
of Lesvos.
90% of arrivals come from the world’s top 10 refugee-producing countries, such as: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan
38% are children
24% are women

6. ERCI Lesvos operation Day 1

8. Sean Binder -
SAR Coordinator, Rescue
Diver

9. ERCIsar ERCIedu ERCIsms ERCImed
Dec. 2015 June 2016 Dec. 2016 Feb. 2017

10. ERCIsar

11. Last week, Wednesday at
1am
A boat fit for 4 people had a
family of 24 Syrian refugees
crammed inside.
There was not enough space
to sit. None wore life
jackets. Many were little
children.

12. 3,139 people went missing or drowned in 2017
559 people went missing or drowned in 2018 so far

13. ERCIsar’s operation in Lesvos aims to assist the large flow of incoming refugees by
providing its assets for Search and Rescue (SAR).
ERCIsar core team consists of trained
professionals:
• Rescuers
• Lifeguards
• Medics
• Interpreters
ERCI is the only actor on Lesvos with these skills
and assets in one place

14. Offshore Capability:
ERCI boat crew trains, drills and undertakes missions on
a daily basis. On call 24/7/365

15. Onshore Capability:
ERCI spotting & rescue teams scan the
ocean for refugee boats in distress every
night, of every week since winter 2015

16. 48,985Refugees directly assisted by ERCI,
62 % women and children

17. ERCI has come to lead the rescue
efforts on Lesvos, incl. assisting the
Hellenic Coast Guard’s and often
Frontex’s efforts.

18. Being a Greek organisation and among the few in
active Search and Rescue, ERCIsar’s goal is to
scale up in order to address the issue in a more
efficient manner and wider operational area.

19. ERCIsar leads inter-organisation
search and rescue training.
We ensure all organisations of
the southern Lesvos shore have
access to tailored training and
effective operating procedures.

20. Training includes:
- Rescue Swimming
- First Aid and Response
- Environment Training
- Boat Landing Drills

21. Our experienced team is also teaching
swimming to unaccompanied refugee minors,
helping them overcome the previous
traumatic experience with the sea

22. What does effective emergency
response mean for ERCIsar?
- Preparedness 24/7/365
- Grassroots coordination structures
- Adaptability, broad range of skills within
ERCI
- Cooperation and asset sharing

24. ERCIedu
EDUCATING AND EMPOWERING REFUGEE YOUTH

25. There are more than 7,500
refugees on Lesvos, and new
arrivals daily! With camps at over
200% their capacity, resources
are scarce.
38%
90% of the refugees come from
war-torn countries such as Syria,
Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore,
refugee youth have little to
no exposure to prior education.
are children

27. This week at ERCI edu
the youngest children made
puppets to assist them in
learning arithmetic

29. ERCISMS

30. Site Management Support
• Setup, coordination and
management of sites for
temporary and long-term stay
of new arrivals
• Coordination of service
provision such as WASH,
medical, distrubution,
recreational and educational
activities etc.

31. ERCIsms continues to play
an important role in
supporting management of
Lesvos’ primary camps.
In the first quarter of 2018,
ERCIsms donated 85,099
items to other NGOs.
ERCIsms ensured
winterisation of refugee
accommodation by
providing stoves and
charcoal

32. At 340 wash cycles per
week, ERCI laundry
programme is one of the
most productive servicing
the refugee population.

33. In Kara Tepe camp ERCIsms has
significantly contributed to the eradication
of epidermal parasites, markedly improving
health conditions of residents.

35. There is critical need for medical professionals in
Greek refugee camps. ERCImed aims to provide
impactful delivery of basic health care and
promote overall health and early diagnosis of
disease.

36. ERCImed strives to
• manage health centres in refugee camps,
• operate mobile medical units (MMMUs),
• support national health centres, hospitals,
emergency operations and missions in the
field.

37. Global attention may shift
away from Lesvos but the
emergency is not over!
As resources are increasingly
limited essential equipment
such as IV apparatus
becomes scarce.

38. These scarce resources force
ERCImed to adopt an ethos of
adaptability and efficiency.
ERCImed is trained to make the most
of a very poor conditions. Adapted
to emergency situations!
Improvised IV

39. Moria refugee camp is an acutely low resource environment with
refugees unable to access adequate healthcare. Therefore ERCImed is a
vital healthcare actor.

40. Moria has over 6,000
residents though it has a
capacity for only 1,800.
The average stay in Moria
used to be 48hrs, now it
can be in excess of 2 years.

41. ERCImed operates the
only NGO clinic in
Moria a former
detention centre.
Moria is one of
Europe’s largest
refugee camps.

42. Despite rising tensions and refugee clashes with the far-right last week,
ERCImed saw 150 refugees per day. With 100 being seen by triage
medics and 50 seen by doctors via appointment.

44. Sarah Mardini
Human rights activist,
law student,
lifeguard

45. ERCI is a young, highly
skilled, volunteer
based NGO
providing services
similar in scale to the
largest organisations.

46. WE NEED
YOUR SUPPORT
TO CONTINUE OUR WORK

48. ercintl.org/donate