Americas (AMRO)

Over a third of Team Rubicon’s international operations have been in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region facing real challenges in mitigating hazards like hurricanes and earthquakes. Developing long-term relationships with local communities and those who serve them is key to supporting these communities in reducing their vulnerability to disaster and bolstering their capacity.

We’ve been building relationships and trust with local populations for years by responding to active disasters, like earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and Ecuador, with Emergency Medical Teams. But these people need more than a response. In Guatemala, for example, Team Rubicon conducted a preliminary needs-assessment survey that led to multiple years of delivering primary clinical care to underserved rural communities there, generating more local partnerships and creating more opportunities to serve.

Being trusted by local partners on the ground in multiple countries, and among regional organizations, steered us toward participating in annual multinational humanitarian exercises in Guatemala and Honduras. Team Rubicon became the only nonprofit invited to participate in Panama’s 2023 Prevention of Natural Disasters in Central America (CEPREDENAC) simulation.