Out of Egypt: Anatomy of an evacuation

Friday Jan. 28: The protests in Cairo, Egypt begin to intensify. MEDEX informs Don Filer, director of the Office of International Affairs (OIA), and Marje Lemmon, manager, Risk Management, that a Yale student has called with concerns about the unrest in the streets. Filer and Jim Cohen, assistant secretary for Middle East Affairs, check the travel registry and contact all faculty, staff and students currently in Egypt to let them know what MEDEX is advising travelers to do to remain safe.

Saturday, Jan. 29: Lemmon receives a call from Filer: The Divinity School, with a group of twelve in Egypt, is contemplating evacuation if the situation worsens. The two begin working with MEDEX to determine if safe evacuation is possible, and later that night, MEDEX indicates that, while still recommending that people take shelter where they are, it is arranging a charter plane to Amersterdam for Monday, Jan. 31.

Filer, Cohen and Lemmon evaluate the latest information from MEDEX and the U.S. State Department Operations Center as well as press reports, and they decide to evacuate the 21 Yale faculty, staff and students from Egypt as quickly as possible.

Monday, Jan. 31: The MEDEX plane fills up quickly so the program charters another to leave on Tuesday, Feb. 1. It will carry 15 Yale travelers out of Cairo. One student in Alexandria, studying with another college’s international program, is evacuated with that college group. Two Yale travelers leave Cairo on commercial flights. Others are in Luxor and not in immediate danger, and one elects to remain in Cairo since he has a commercial flight scheduled to depart in a few days. Throughout the ordeal, Filer, Lemmon and Anna Ramirez, associate dean of the Divinity School, are in touch with the travelers and/or their families — all of whom, they note, are remarkably calm, patient and understanding.

Tuesday Feb. 1: OIA gets word that the second MEDEX charter has departed Egypt for Amsterdam.

Ultimately, all 21 Yale travelers arrived back in the United States safe and sound.

Following a recent staff meeting, Yale’s Office of International Affairs gathered together on the first floor of Betts House. Bottom row (left to right): Elizabeth Wilkinson, Joao Aleixo, Jackie McGrath, Don Filer, Sheila Pastor, Fawn Wang; top row (left to right): Neli Lazarova, Tina Weiner, Sharon Butler, George Joseph and Jim Cohen.