When I first moved abroad (and was young and didn't have a huge reserve in place) I purchased emergency repatriation insurance for expats which was intended to cover exactly this kind of emergency. Since becoming more financially stable, I stopped buying it (as self-insurance is almost always cheaper than insurance products, if you have the cash-flow to manage it). So there are ways to manage these risks without going into debt. I agree with Kim - credit card debt is for fools and having seen a member of my family run up debts of 5x ANNUAL salary I personally would take it pretty seriously.
Not entirely sure what it has to do with the OP's topic though! 43k for a family is tight, but then so is what the vast majority of the world live on. It all depends what alternatives back home they have as to whether or not it;s a good idea or not.