Philippines update. Saving Lives: Who needs FWEMSAR?

For a long time, it has been the conventional wisdom to expose skilled, highly trained and properly vetted personnel to extreme dangers - sometimes equal or greater than that which confronts counter-terrorist or counter-drug operations elements. Yet this is the job of Rescue, or more aptly as it is called, SAR - Search and Rescue.

We believe in the significance of SAR. However, for the benefit of both the party being rescued and the rescuer, we stand in our conviction that beyond post-disaster search and rescue or SAR during the incumbency of a disaster, it would be a positive addition to the design to introduce Forewarning and Early Measures.

United States of America for example has the SAR Task Force.  Under the SARTF are units for instance such as the United States Air Force Para Rescue. Brazil's Ministry of Defense has Operation Rescue under the defense ministry's Subsidiary Actions.

Specially trained elements of the China Coast Guard - among others - undertake SAR operations within the bounds of the People's Republic of China. Taiwan has its own CMC Taiwan Rescue.

In the Philippines, in 1990-1991, the authors were requested to form a plan for the Reactivation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Forest Ranger Battalion. Together with the plan, also submitted were other proposals relevant to disaster response.

The reactivation of the Forest Ranger Battalion was not approved at the Department of National Defense. A good number of the proposals detailing the pressing need for modernization of defense assets, equipment and technologies, for making disaster and emergency response more effective and efficient were adopted as the department's position by then Secretary Fidel Valdez Ramos.

Today, we encourage the Philippine Government and whatever state government around the globe that usually suffer from major or mega disaster, to engage in constituting Forewarning, Early Measures, Search, Rescue, Recovery (FWEMSAR) Task Force that will be empowered by the State to undertake all means of life saving procedures, counter measures even make arrests in the prosecution of their functions, duties and responsibilities.

SAR is usually a limited action affair.  Like Special Operations (Spec Ops) and Special Warfare (Spec War) actions, SAR is highly seasonal or extremely infrequent.  Although at the time of its occurrence, the level of threat is clearly very high - both for the SAR operative and the subject being searched and recovered.

Spec Ops and Spec War operatives usually conduct relentlessly continuous training, skill refresher and crash learning sessions to hone their abilities. SAR operatives do the same.

It is highly useful however, if the conduct of these constant, continuing capacity building, some of these will be conducted on the ground.

Among the positive actions that can be done is engaging in training the people on the ground, in communities. At the portent of natural calamity, forewarning and drill -  practice or real evacuations may be conducted by the SAR operatives in the communities themselves that are predicted whether accurately or not, to be the targets of the impending disaster.

There is no issue whether the forecasted target disaster area will actually be spared from the catastrophic impact of a climatic phenomenon or any other hazard. Forecasts can sometimes miss and the important thing is that the SAR operatives are able to engage in grassroots based drills - the value of which cannot be matched by highly expensive seminars held in five- and six-star hotels, convention halls or similar venues.

Rescue happens on the ground. And rescue effectively happens before the disaster, whether the disaster hits or not, because the awareness of the import of the calamity becomes powerfully ingrained in the minds of the population and as such will strongly determine their future behavior towards forthcoming dangers.

The real future of survival does not have to consider aspects and factors beyond the concept of rescue. It just has to happen before the rescue - before disaster ever strikes and kills.

Summation. Unit to be tasked - 
Forewarning, Early Measures, Search, Rescue and Recovery Task Force (FWEMSAR TF)

Alternate nomenclature - 
FEMSARR TF, SARRFEM TF
TFFEMSAR, TF FWEMSARR

Character -
Composite Unit

Force Security -
Task Force Security and Intelligence

Fund and Equipment -
NDRRMC or in other states, the equivalent agency for disaster response

Images of SAR on the world wide web:

Rescue Olympics – RescueLympics

Rescue Olympics – RescueLympics

2014 version no. 2

Rescue is a universal concern. simply defined it is bringing a besieged, endangered human or any other living form (referred to as Victim or Casualty) to more safer place and circumstances.

RESCUE OLYMPICS

INTRODUCTION

There are about 29,000-35,000 highly trained individuals in the Philippines alone that are especially trained in rescue. Only about 10% of these individuals are able to participate in saving lives, safeguarding individuals or clusters of people in a community except during severe emergencies that affect their own life and that of their immediate neighborhood.

Within a universe of a 100,000,000 population, these rescue-trained experts will be no match to the coming of major disasters even within their own communities alone considering the ratio of roughly 1:3500.

There is a need therefore to promote and sustain an effort to teach everyone from young to old, males and females, at least the idea of self-rescue.

It is basically not enough to state, “Be prepared for calamity, Be prepared for disaster. Prepare a survival kit consisting of first aid, your important documents, etc.” No it is not enough. It is very important to introduce specific ideas, actions, skills, concepts to the entire population slowly, gradually what it will be required to be able to save one’s self from harm and danger before the onset of and during a disaster as well as after the catastrophe has occurred.

This is the basic vision and the fundamental mission of Rescue Olympics. Centre di Humanes et Societas Inc. believed since 1992 that the numerous highly trained individuals who are capable of conducting rescue, can be converted into virtual teachers of the public and serve as models in their own communities as well.

During the devastation by Yolanda in Tacloban and other parts of the country, especially those that were trained in rescue, had 100% personal survival including those of their own families. This can happen to average citizens, if given the chance to learn how to save themselves. Rescue Olympics determines to do just that.

To accomplish this, a nationwide challenge seeks to pit rescue teams and compete in skills and competence improvement games and challenges. RESCUELYMPICS will be held annually in games designed to heighten the alertness, confidence and expertise.

In essence therefore, Rescue Olympics, designed as a training tool for rescuers nationwide, will be an educational device and forum for our citizenry across the whole country. If broadcast and heard in real time and over and over again on national television and radio, printed on broadsheets and tabloids repeatedly, the concepts will little by little sink in, to the minds of our people and hopefully give them several second chances of enjoying life again, even after chilling and truly dangerous disasters.

SIMULATION

The special characteristic of the Rescue Olympics is that it will simulate or create a mock up of broad range mobilization of several rescue teams to form a rescue task force that will play the role of components of the same task force to attempt on a per team basis the rescue of the designated victim / casualty / patient.

NATIONWIDE CHALLENGE ELIMINATIONS

The skilled Rescue Teams shall qualify and participate in various challenges each year. The following are the games or challenges:

1. Extrication of Victim-Casualty trapped below ground
2. Extrication of Victim-Casualty on water
3. Extrication of Victim-Casualty trapped at high angle

Each team shall consist of six player-members:

1. The Team Leader
2. Medic
3. Two Technical Rescue Personnel; and,
4. One Personnel in charge of admin support to operations.

During RESCUELYMPICS, the Teams are presented several and unique conditions that challenge their capability to immediately and on-the-spot, form a Rescue Operational Plan (Rescue OP) and successfully extricate the casualty in the allotted time.

The scenarios include the following:

30 minutes Complex Rescue - The team performs a Triage and rescue three victims two of whose conditions worsened from an air line crash.

• 20 minutes Equipment No Holds Barred – No limit to the types of Rescue Equipment will be used to rescue one stable and entrapped victim.
• 20 minutes Equipment By Selection Only – Rescue that focuses only on very small tools and will not allow the use of sophisticated Rescue Equipment.
• 10 minutes Race Against Time – The teams perform a rescue of a victim whose condition has severely deteriorated and has only a few minutes left to live before being transferred to a medical facility.

GENERAL GOALS AND RULE ASSUMPTIONS

The project is proprietary to the Resource Recovery Movement and Executive Safety section of Centre di Humanes et Societas Inc., the Kampo Uno Rescue in partnership with BGen. Santiago Laguna of the Republic of the Philippines Bureau of fire protection and emergency rescue service (designated government lead First Responder) as well as the Office of Chairman, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) as continuing joint pursuit with that agency for survival from risks brought about disasters.

The project originally determined to achieve the goal of assisting the first responder agency of acquiring adequate and improved communication base radio and portable hand sets as well as safety gear during rescue missions.

The objective is to challenge rescue - emergency service personnel to bring them to world class fitness and proficiency.

It also aims to raise the public consciousness of the global problems of demise and injury arising from unsafe practices, hazards in the environment among other important considerations.

Because it is a public event, it aims to promote the concept of self-rescue among the citizens and therefore increase their chances of safety, survival, avoidance of danger situations and minimization of risks in their own immediate environment and in the community as a whole.

The simulated nature of the competitions also seek to educate the public of the need to combine, pool talent, resources, time, commitments in order to effect successful life saving undertakings in limited conditions.

The proprietor does not reserve exclusive rights in the implementation of these games. A main implementor may be an independent organization coming from outside of the proprietor organization.

General rules and regulations are as follows:

The main implementor may be an independent organization instead of the proprietor under the rule that any proceeds from the annual event shall be shared between the Major Event Sponsor-Implementor and the proprietor on the following basis calculated from gross receipts:

First responder agency and
Major Event Sponsor-Implementor       - 80%
Proprietor                                - 20%

The main implementor shall engage the services of a reputable accounting-auditing firm to act as the accountant-comptroller for the event.

Proprietary owners of Rescue Olympics (RescueLympics) will raffle the final set of Judges selected and provided to the proprietor by the Major Event Sponsor-Implementor.

Contestants shall pass the Registration process to be considered contenders in the Rescue Olympics (RescueLympics).

Winners (Rescue Team) shall be provided incentive and recognition by the Major Event Sponsor-Implementor, first responder agency, the MMDA and other cooperating authorities.

Shown in the following Sections are the Contest Rules of the Rescue Olympics.

1 – URBAN RESCUE COMPETITIONS

2 – WATER BORNE RESCUE COMPETITIONS

3 – AIR BORNE RESCUE COMPETITIONS

4 – MASS CASUALTY INCIDENT RESCUE COMPETITIONS

5 – HIGHLANDS / MOUNTAIN RESCUE COMPETITIONS

Acknowledgments:

The template of the Rescue Olympics Urban Rescue Category for Metro Manila draws nearly its entire contest concept and rules from the Mine Safety and Health Administration of the United States and Leon County, State of Florida Rescue policies and procedures - Glossary of important terms.

To all of the individuals and organizations that provided useful ideas and concepts that cannot all be named here the authors would like to express their heartfelt gratitude.

July 5, 2014

Centre Humanes + Societas

centrehumanes@gmail.com

communitysafetysummit@yahoo.com

asiacommunications@msn.com

09212261611 09162728844 09174760651

Invitation Letter to World GeoHazards specialists

December 9, 2013

Dear Sir / Madame,

Greetings!

This is to formally invite your attention to  our determination to hold the international conference on geohazard mapping and relevant environment issues. Our group decided to launch a campaign in 2009 for sustainable crisis hazards mapping and relevant environmental concerns after returning from Mindanao, Philippines following the end of the effort in ending the highly expensive hotel billeting by Juma’a Abu Sayyap of selected staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from Switzerland (Andreas Notter), Italy (Eugenio Vagni) and Philippines (Mary Jane Lacaba).

The purpose of the conference is to provide a fora within Southeast Asia for developed and developing countries, for consolidating databases, integrating and perfecting geohazard mapping and tagging - coordinates and all correlational information for disaster hot spot / safe spot zones, among others. When we began this effort, we noticed that mostly poor developing countries only, responded to our invitation. Understandably, nearly all or most of them required us to sponsor their travel and accommodations.

Our basic belief is in putting into action the requisites precluding taking of measures to prevent and mitigate both the risks of loss of lives and property and actual casualties during a disaster. Furthermore, to allow disasters to ravage our communities without prior mitigation measures becomes an extremely tedious issue due to the fact that certain quarters in the public sector are remiss in delivering aid to victims of calamities [e.g. recent super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) here in the Philippines where it took more than one week for the government to respond].

Many of us agree to the principle shared by many of you that mitigation requires less expense and effort -

“than remediation or reconstruction actions. When mitigation and prevention are economically not feasible or when it is cheaper just to accept certain disasters (particularly those due to the most extreme events), the issue becomes an ethical one, where the decision is of how much we want to spend to avoid loss of lives.”

For this reason, we most sincerely invite your good self to participate as centers for leadership and influence, moderators or active participant-delegates in our planned conference.

We welcome your invitation to your colleagues and we hope that your respective organizations and state agencies can lend support for our undertaking in the Philippines. We fervently anticipate your most favorable reply soon.

Thank you so very much, with much privilege and honor we remain,

Faithfully yours,

Organizing Committee

Geo Hazards and Environment Summit 2014 Manila

Website:   http://summit.hazmapping.org

Email:       summit@hazmapping.org

                 hazmappingsummit@gmail.com

One Festival

O     N     E

One is a rock music festival originally planned for April 2010 that was shelved due to the postponement of the Hazards Mapping and Environment Summit (HMES) 2010 - a sister project.

The HMES project is now revived and rescheduled to December 8-16, 2014, before the March conference in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture of the United Nations called the UN Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

On the fifth day of the hazards mapping and environment conference, One will be staged at Rizal Park, Manila beginning at past 5:00 pm Saturday, December 13, 2014 until the next day Sunday December 14, 2014.

One of the unique features of One is the use of biometric tickets, the technology for which will be negotiated up to final contract with a provider from the United Kingdom.

One is a concern of Center for Human and Society (Centre di Humanes et Societas, Inc.) a non-profit organization registered in the Philippines. The organizer's advocacy is pushing for and actively participating in the creation of resettlement sites far away from the ground zero where thousands of Tacloban City residents died as well as building Memorials for those that died in the places where the remains of those that passed away during the Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Haiyan codenamed Yolanda. These memorials will be where the relatives of those that died can express grief for their family, loved ones and bosom friends.

The targeted resettlements are within Leyte or off-island, with a choice of several areas that offer jobs, education for the children as well as other amenities.

One was conceived many years ago in 1987 after the period of transition in government in the Philippines called the People Power Revolution.

Related sites:

One Festival Page at Facebook

One Festival Event - Facebook

New Schedule for RRM Project

We have determined to set the new date for the Hazards Mapping and Environment Summit of 2010 to December 2013.

The extreme difficulty in dealing with a repository financial institution in Kuala Lumpur was the main obstacle in pushing through with the conference, despite appeals made to someone with whom we also reposed our trust in to resolve the problem.

Money cannot be the cause of not pursuing the cause of the conference, thus we have decided to go ahead, come hell or high water. After all, when those who gave us a hard time will be up to their necks deep in flood, they might want to ask the organizing committee for the conference what will they do next?

Join us in the quest to map forthcoming large disasters like the Japan earthquake - tsunami in advance and to figure out what areas will be the safest in time of great peril from causes like solar maximas, climate change and even man-made calamities.

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