Rescue 1122 may become part of UN network

LAHORE: The United Nations’ Office of Coordination on Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) has invited the Punjab Emergency Services/Rescue 1122 director general to participate in the meetings of International Search & Rescue Advisory Group (INSRAG) in pursuance of an application of Punjab Emergency Service for accreditation and external classification by the UN-INSRAG.

After approval, Pakistan will be the first country in SAARC region to become an international partner of humanitarian networks, thus qualifying for response to disasters likes earthquakes or any other human crisis across the globe. The Rescue 1122 DG will participate in different meetings of INSRAG from Feb 5 to Feb 9, 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland.

He said that after looking at the helplessness of the victims in collapsed buildings during 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the Punjab Emergency Service established the first disaster response force, which was subsequently also notified as the Provincial Disaster Response Force by the Punjab government in July 2011. However, after consultation with international partners and positive feedback, the Service had applied for accreditation by the INSRAG. After completing the due process and assessments by the UN-OCHA Pakistan Office and UN-INSRAG mentor, finally the application for external classification was accepted on Feb 12, 2015, for registering the Punjab Emergency Service as Search & Rescue Team of Pakistan, which would be the first team among the SAARC countries to achieve the INSRAG accreditation.

The DG said that Rescue 1122 had become a leading emergency humanitarian service in Pakistan, which has rescued over 5.4 million emergency victims while maintaining its average response time of 7 minutes in all districts of Punjab. He said that the disaster response force had responded to several disasters like catastrophic earthquakes and floods in Pakistan while following the search and rescue techniques according to the international standards.