01
Honesty over hype
No inflated counts. No borrowed authority. Public records when we claim status.
About
An alliance built on standards, not spectacle.
Who we are, what we refuse to claim, and the public record that makes trust checkable.
The International Emergency Response and Rescue Technology Alliance exists because disasters do not respect borders — and untrained goodwill is not a strategy.
We are a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in the Houston area, Texas. We train people, partner with universities, and pursue international cooperation so readiness is shared language, not improvisation under panic.
Our role is to certify, connect, and strengthen — not replace local authorities or invent impact metrics.
Internationally, IERRTA aligns its learning and field vocabulary with publicly available United Nations system frameworks (disaster risk reduction, humanitarian coordination language, and mine-action education themes). Separately, our first corporate supporter — Recon Rescue Inc. — is a commercial firm registered on United Nations procurement platforms (see Network section).
Legal status
501(c)(3) · EIN 39-4409292
Tax-exempt since September 2025. Category: International Relief. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
- Legal name: International Emergency Response and Rescue Technology Alliance
- Mailing address (IRS-registered): 7011 Morning Sky, Katy, TX 77494-0155, USA
- Operations: Houston area, USA
- Responsible person: Qi Chen, Founder
Values
How we decide
Principles that survive contact with marketing pressure.
02
Standards over improvisation
Training exists so the first minutes are competent, not chaotic.
03
Partnership over competition
We amplify campuses, agencies, and volunteer teams — we do not replace them.
04
Technology serves people
Tools matter only when they reduce risk and speed good decisions.
05
Borders are secondary
Competence should be portable across languages and jurisdictions.
06
Action over bureaucracy
Lean operations so resources reach training and field support.
Network · United Nations system touchpoints
How IERRTA relates to the UN ecosystem
Clear language. No borrowed seals. Useful for donors, universities, and partners who need accuracy.
Important clarification. IERRTA is an independent U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
IERRTA is not a United Nations agency, office, or fund.
Mentions of the UN below describe (1) public frameworks we learn from and teach against,
(2) public humanitarian information we curate, and (3) a separate commercial company, led by IERRTA’s founder, that supports IERRTA and holds its own UN vendor registration.
01 · Frameworks
Aligned learning, not UN branding
Programs reference widely used international concepts: incident command literacy, disaster phases, humanitarian coordination vocabulary, and space-based disaster information communities of practice (e.g. public UN-SPIDER / UNOSAT knowledge resources). Formal institutional partnership with UN bodies is a goal we pursue transparently — not a status we invent.
02 · Information
UN-linked public feeds on our desks
Our crisis boards and mine-action desk surface public reporting channels used across the humanitarian system (including UN News / mine-action themes and OCHA-linked public sources when available). That is information hygiene — not an endorsement badge.
Mine action desk →03 · Related-party disclosure
Recon Rescue Inc. — first corporate supporter, led by our founder
Recon Rescue Inc. is a private, for-profit company in emergency response technology and services. It is led by IERRTA’s founder, Qi Chen, so it is a related party of IERRTA. It is a separate legal entity: IERRTA is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit; Recon Rescue is a commercial business.
Recon Rescue Inc. was IERRTA’s first corporate supporter (early operational backing and domain expertise). Recon Rescue holds its own commercial vendor registration on the UN Global Marketplace (UNGM). That registration belongs to the company, not to IERRTA, and it is not a UN endorsement of either organization.
IERRTA keeps its finances separate from Recon Rescue’s. Questions about this relationship: chenqi@ierrta.org.
04 · What this does not mean
Boundaries that protect trust
- Any UN vendor registration belongs to Recon Rescue Inc., not to IERRTA as an NGO.
- Vendor registration is eligibility to supply, not a UN endorsement of products or of IERRTA.
- IERRTA donations and certificates are NGO programs under U.S. 501(c)(3) rules. IERRTA certificates are not externally accredited.
- We welcome additional corporate supporters — Recon Rescue was simply first.
Public links
- UNGM — United Nations Global Marketplace (UN system procurement portal)
- UNDP procurement
- UN-SPIDER (public space-based disaster management knowledge)
- UNMAS (UN Mine Action Service — public education reference)
- IERRTA 501(c)(3) public record