n REDR has grown from a small register of volunteers into an international organisation which has deployed 2,500 experts to worldwide relief efforts
Inspired by one man's personal experiences of working in a refugee camp, it also runs an international programme of training courses.
It began in 1979 when engineer Peter Guthrie was working with Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick when a huge exodus of Viet
namese boat people caused a refugee crisis in Malaysia.
He was recruited through Oxfam to work in the refugee camps for three months.
He was the only engineer there.
"When I returned I saw the pressing need for engineers to help in this sort of work and compiled a register of engineers who could be called upon at short notice to work with frontline relief agencies."
In 1982 RedR, the Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief, was formally established as a charity. It relied mainly on volunteers.
The first big test came in 1985 when the Ethiopian famine required a number of RedR members to work on relief programmes in Ethiopia and Sudan.
RedR members were called on again in 1991 to respond rapidly to the 'first' Gulf War and the desperate needs of the Kurdish people fleeing into northern Iraq.
It turned out to be a significant year for the organisation as a RedR Australia was set up and the RedR training programme started.
Throughout the 1990s RedR members were frequently called on to respond to emergencies and disasters.
Hundreds of RedR members were deployed to respond to the genocide in Rwanda, the crisis in Bosnia and the Kosovo crisis.
By the turn of the century RedR's international reach was expanding.
By 2003 there were RedR offices in Canada, New Zealand, Eastern Africa and India.
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Today's features.Latest sport.Main news index.In 2003 RedR merged with IHE (International Health Exchange). IHE brought 22 years of health expertise in the relief and development sector, running training courses and a medical register. Together, RedR-IHE offered a broader range of professionals able to respond to emergencies and a wider scope of training courses.
Within a year, in response to the worsening security crisis, RedR-IHE set up its first regional training programme based in the field – in Afghanistan.
The full article contains 381 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
