UN INSARAG Asia Pacific exercise begins

LAHORE:The Emergency Services Academy hosted 3-day United Nations INSARAG Asia Pacific Regional Earthquake Response Exercise (IERE) SIMEX China 2021 for national stakeholders and Urban Search and Rescue Teams (USAR) of Pakistan on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, DG Emergency Services and Team Commander Pakistan Rescue Team said that the purpose of this exercise was to ensure an integrated and coordinated response from international USAR teams.

He said that Pakistan Rescue Team (PRT) of the Emergency Services Academy being classified as a team would facilitate the process of large scale table top earthquake simulation exercises as per international standards from Pakistan. He said that it would be our collective response to SIMEX China 2021 in which classified teams from China, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea were participating.

He lauded the participation of USAR teams of Pakistan including Emergency Services Academy, Pak Army, Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) and Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) and members from National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Sindh, Balochistan, KP, Gilgit Baltistan and State Disaster Management Authority Azad Jammu & Kashmir.