Search & rescue operation: 3-day training for volunteers concludes

CHITRAL: The three-day training programme on ‘community-based search and rescue operation’ for the volunteers of Karimabad, Arkari and Breshgram valleys ended in Shoghor village on Saturday.

The purpose of the training was aimed at refreshing and capacitating the local community with knowledge and skills to efficiently respond to disasters and emergencies. Held by Regional Integrated Multi-Hazards Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) with the assistance of USAID and support of Pakistan Meteorological Department, the training was participated by 27 community volunteers drawn from different valleys of the area.

The concluding ceremony was attended by the elites and representatives of civil society of the area in which former councilor Haji Miftahuddin was chief guest and presided over by chairman of village council Shoghor Ejaz Ahmed while the trainees exhibited mock drill of search and rescue providing first aid treatment to the injured.

The speakers appreciated the efforts of RIMES and said that the area embracing the three valleys was highly prone to natural disasters in the form of flash floods, glacial lakes outburst floods and avalanches which resulted in the death of hundreds of people in the recent past.

They said that it was the dire need of the hour to make the people resilient by imparting training to the community so that they start search and rescue activities as first responders before the arrival of formal aid.

The disaster risk management specialist of RIMES, Amber Masud said that automatic weather stations were also being set up in different places of the Upper places of the valleys which will provide early warning to the local communities in case of flash flood so that the people could move to safer places. Certificates of participation were awarded to the volunteers attending the training and the experts of RESCUE 1122 who acted as resource persons of the sessions.