This is UNDAC - The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination System - 2022

The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) system is a part of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It serves as the international response system for sudden-onset emergencies, such as an earthquake or a flood, and is designed to help the United Nations and governments of disaster affected countries during the first phase of an emergency

ABOUT OCHA

OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA’s vision is one of a world that comes together to help crisis-affected people rapidly get the humanitarian assistance they need. Our mission is to coordinate the global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all.

THE TEAM

An UNDAC team can be deployed at very short notice (24-48 hours) anywhere in the world. The UNDAC system is designed to support national governments, the UN in-country, Humanitarian Coordinators and Humanitarian Country Teams, and incoming international responders with coordination during the first phase of a sudden-onset emergency. It also aims to advise and strengthen national and regional disaster response capacity.

UNDAC teams are equipped to be selfsufficient.

They are trained in various skills, such as coordination, needs assessments and information management. The teams also advise and strengthen national and regional disaster response capacity.

When required, an UNDAC team establishes and runs an On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC) and a Reception and Departure Centre (RDC), which provide a platform for cooperation, coordination and information management for international humanitarian response agencies and national responders. First responders use the Virtual OSOCC website for real-time information exchange during ongoing emergencies.

MANAGEMENT

The UNDAC system is managed by OCHA’s Emergency Response Section (ERS) in the Response Support Branch (RSB).

As well as working with OCHA regional offices and other parts of OCHA, ERS works with UNDAC national focal points. ERS also acts as the secretariat of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), which is the global network of countries and organizations dedicated to improving standards and coordination in urban search-and-rescue (USAR) preparedness-and-response operations.