Digging out
BY NICK Cater
DEVELOPMENTS in technology, construction and communications are
focusing more attention on the life-saving potential of
search-and-rescue (SAR) teams from National Societies and international
groups following earthquakes and other disasters, from mudslides to
terrorist bombs.
But SAR teams also face scrutiny about their speed, effectiveness and
costs, with calls for far greater priority to be given to disaster
preparedness, such as training and resources for national emergency
networks and local volunteers to save more lives in seismic ally-active
countries.
SAR skills have evolved from several sources, including domestic
emergency services engaged in fire fighting, and the teams tasked to
find and recover those lost in remote areas, often with the use of "sniffer"
dogs for tracking and locating individuals.
Today's canine capacities in SAR teams are often enhanced with
sophisticated equipment, such as heat and sonic sensors to spot the
warmth of a body or pick up sounds as quiet as the beating of a human
heart, as well as skills as diverse as first aid and construction
techniques.
Evolving communications have had a significant impact on SAR, with
details of disasters and needs flashed worldwide in minutes through
networks like the International Federation's web-based Disaster
Management Information System, while mobile phones allow calls from
inside damaged buildings.
A big factor encouraging the growth of urban SAR teams has been
changing construction methods, such as the use of concrete slabs that -
unlike timber, mud or bricks - create spaces or "voids" as homes and
offices collapse in which those not crushed by falling masonry or cut by
broken glass may survive.
But survival times, especially for those injured, cold or without
water, are more often minutes and hours than days. Any SAR operation is
a race against time, highlighting the need for local training and teams,
and putting international groups at a severe disadvantage.
Hold-ups in getting rescue staff, dogs, equipment and supplies across
national borders and through customs controls are being tackled through
new international agreements, including a recent United Nations
resolution passed to strengthen urban SAR assistance.
That initiative had International Federation support, reflecting its
far wider work through the International Disaster Response Law (IDRL)
project to develop a consistent framework of national legislation and
regional or global agreements to aid fast and effective emergency action
worldwide.
International versus local
For domestic and sometimes international disasters, be they
earthquakes, hurricanes or even terrorist bombs, many National Societies
have or are developing SAR skills, from the United States and Colombia
to Cuba and Italy, Turkey and Algeria to India and Vietnam.
A good example is the expertise of the Austrian, German and
Luxembourg Red Cross societies, which together have search and rescue
services involving hundreds of staff and dozens of dogs available for
emergencies at home and a smaller group with extra training for overseas
missions.
These three National Societies have a substantial track record in
major earthquakes and other disasters, from Armenia in 1985, Egypt in
1992 and 1996, and the two earthquakes in Turkey in 1999, to Algeria and
Bam in Iran last year, and Morocco earlier this year.
Gert Venghaus, German Red Cross head of international disaster
relief, says the SAR teams reached recent disasters in Algeria, Morocco
and Iran within hours and played an important role in each one, though
he adds: "The training of local people is by far more effective and
useful."
"The vast majority of 'live' rescues are done by neighbours, lay
people, long before trained people even arrive at the scene of a
disaster. There is a sizeable discussion under way on the use of foreign
SAR teams and, given the usually limited positive results, it is
doubtful whether foreign SAR teams are a realistic first response."
But he highlights how SAR teams show solidarity, prompt political
interest and attract TV cameras: "One should not deny the extremely
positive media effect a dispatched SAR team has and there are some
direct linkages between the speedy deployment of an SAR team and the
amount of donations for a specific disaster."
Joint initiatives
Cooperation between National Societies is improving SAR skills and
saving lives, such as the German Red Cross training for Iranian Red
Crescent Society (IRCS) dog-handling teams. Leading that project is
Michael Kielau of the Hamburg SAR group.
Four times a year he trains handlers and their dogs in Tehran: "It is
not easy, because for dogs it is a hard life in Iran. But the handlers
are highly motivated and they learned very quickly." So far, 12 handlers
and 20 dogs have been trained, and they were the first team working on
the ground in Bam.
Dog teams are part of a far broader development of disaster
preparedness and relief management in Iran, according to Mostafa
Mohaghegh, former head of the IRCS's international department and now
operations coordinator in the International Federation's operations
support department.
"We decided to upgrade and expand our relief and rescue capacity,
from staff and volunteers to equipment and supplies, and including the
dog teams. In Bam, the first dog team was working within 90 minutes of
the earthquake and the rest arrived within a few hours. They saved at
least 157 lives, and helped in the rescue of 500 more."
He reports that international SAR teams took far longer and some had
not checked about local construction techniques - mainly adobe and brick
rather than the concrete that might have left voids - so they arrived
after the possibility of rescuing people alive had become remote.
Through specialist centres and community programmes, the IRCS is
involved in training hundreds of thousands of people in disaster-related
skills, from first aid to relief management, which is vital given the
country's earthquakes, floods and other natural hazards, says Mohaghegh.
With International Federation support, a regional strategic relief
centre in Tehran to serve the Middle East and Central Asia is already
operational, and the IRCS is now creating a relief and rescue team that
can offer assistance to other countries across the region.
Lessons from Bam
The Pan American Health Organization recently highlighted that after
disasters, "the myth that the affected population is too shocked and
helpless to take responsibility for their own survival is simply that: a
myth. Time and time again, the reality emerges that family, neighbours
and local citizens are best placed to save victims' lives."
Reviewing the Bam disaster in its newsletter, PAHO noted that the
earthquake "brought home, once again, the reality that most
international search and rescue teams arrive too late to make a
significant difference in terms of saving a number of lives following
sudden-impact natural disasters."
While an estimated 1,600 relief and rescue workers from 46 countries
came to Bam, "the Iranian authorities and the Red Crescent were really
amazing. Within three days they had treated 30,000 people... and were
well on their way to distributing 98,000 tents, 200,000 blankets,
400,000 food rations."
An Iranian Ministry of Health disaster expert told PAHO that more aid
should be spent on disaster management training and capacity building,
adding: "It was a pity that some experts who came to Bam following the
earthquake could have contributed so much more in terms of training and
organizing Iranian teams before the disaster.
"Many dead bodies were still warm when pulled from the debris,
showing that if local relief and rescue teams had been better trained,
or had participated in joint training exercises prior to the disaster
with the very international teams who came to Bam, more lives could have
been saved."
(Nick Cater is an international writer and consultant on aid
issues.)
(Courtesy: Red Cross, Red Crescent) |