BY: HAZEL F. GLORIA
CEBU CITY, March 12 (PIA) --- Some 120
participants from both the military and civilian disaster response groups are set
to graduate on Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) training today.
In a press statement, Central Command
(CENTCOM) deputy commander for administration Col. Frederick Evans Ramos said,
the training aimed to build and enhance the capacity of the command’s urban
search and rescue operations and to exercise interoperability with civilian
rescue teams and internalize standards in rescue operations such as the
incident command system (ICS).
It has brought together the various
urban search and rescue teams under CENTCOM, which is composed of the 3rd and
8th Infantry Divisions of the Philippine Army, the Naval Forces Central
(NAVFORCEN) of the Philippine Navy, and the 2nd Air Division (2AD) of the
Philippine Air Force (PAF).
Civilian USAR teams like the Emergency Response
Unit Foundation (ERUF), Phil. Red Cross- Cebu Chapter, Regional Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) and the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council (CPDRRMC) were also among the participants in
the training program.
The participants underwent a series of
practical exercises in disaster response specifically on rope rescue operations
and shoring of collapsed structures.
Col. Ramos, who also heads the
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) office of CENTCOM said, “the
string of disasters that occurred last year has taught us to always prepare for
the worst.”
A team from Hawaii National Guard
(HING) conducted the 10-day training for disaster response units which started
last week.
The combined forces of the Armed Forces
Philippines (AFP) USAR and HING USAR Teams as well as subject matter experts
(SMEs) from the Office of the Civil Defense 7 (OCD7) composed the training
staff.
“The assistance provided to us by our
counterparts in the Hawaii National Guard will surely allow us to improve our
craft when it comes to responding to disasters,” Col. Ramos added.
He bared, “being among the first
responders, it is the priority of your military in the Visayas to ensure that
we are capable and equipped to handle rescue operations especially in the Metro
Cebu areas.”
The training program is among the list of bilaterally approved
program under the Mutual Defense Board- Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and its United States
counterparts.(mbcn/HFG/PIA-7/CentCom)