Canada’s assistance teams idly wait Japan deployment

OTTAWA— Canada has two Disaster Assistance Response Teams available to send to Japan, as well as rapid-deployment field medical facilities, and teams of engineering, humanitarian and search and rescue experts. But all that assistance is sitting idly, while Ottawa awaits a formal request for its services.

“We’re in close contact with authorities in Japan, and we’ve let them know what kind of assistance we have available,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy said in an interview Sunday. “We’re waiting, we’re standing by until the government of Japan makes a request.”

Aid offers have poured in to the island nation that was ravaged after last week’s massive earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that claimed the life of at least one Canadian and up to 10,000 others.

Approximately a dozen countries have deployed rescue teams, which include dogs from Australia, China and the United States, at Japan’s request, the United Nations said Sunday.

But while Japanese authorities continue their search and rescue efforts with some help, Canada has yet to send any support.

“They only requested specific assistance from specific countries,” she said. “The Japanese government has a very experienced emergency response mechanism in place. So we want to collaborate and let them take the lead on what might be necessary and when.”

Ablonczy said she can sympathize with Canadians’ eagerness to help.

“As Canadians, we really want to get in there and help everywhere we can,” she said. “But the Japanese government does have things in hand, and they know what’s available.”

Although Ottawa’s assistance teams remain immobile, Canadian charities such as Red Cross, Oxfam Canada and Doctors Without Borders have been collecting donations and offering aid.

Beyond sending assistance, government is also concerned with ensuring the safety of all Canadians currently in Japan, Ablonczy said.

An approximate 10,000 to 12,000 Canadians are in Japan, but few are believed to be in the worst affected areas, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

So far, 76-year-old Andre Lachapelle from Quebec has been the only Canadian casualty reported.

Still, Foreign Affairs has issued a general travel advisory, warning against non-essential travel to the prefectures of Chiba, Miyagi, Ibaraki, Iwate, Fukushima and Aomori, where aftershocks continue and the risk of tsunamis is ongoing. Low-lying coastal areas should also be avoided, the department cautioned.

But Canada has not gone as far as some other countries, such as France, which has asked its citizens to leave Tokyo.

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