Tuesday, September 2, 2014

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.

The 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. 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.

Read more from here

Images of SAR on the world wide web:

No comments:

The Distraction brought by fighting Climate Change

After the 2005 Hyogo Conference, scientists urged the United Nations to consider that the various conflicting issues surrounding Climate Change is "distracting governments" from providing solutions to threats of disasters worldwide.

"The current UN focus on "fighting climate change," as illustrated in the Nov. 27 UN Development Programme's Human Development Report, is distracting governments from adapting to the threat of inevitable natural climate changes, whatever forms they may take. National and international planning for such changes is needed, with a focus on helping our most vulnerable citizens adapt to conditions that lie ahead. Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity's real and pressing problems."

A letter written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon ventilated sentiments of scientists and technology experts on the issue of focusing deeper into finding means to adapt to the threat of climate change.

A network of connected hazards

The Global Geohazard System

Crisis Mapping

In 2008 we determined to create a full-function Crisis Mapping project. This was borne out of the persistent eruption of hostilities in Southern Philippines between both communist - Islamist groups on one side and. government on the other side. Fresh from the experience at confronting an incorrigible troublemaker such as the Juma'a Abu Sayyap, or more popularly known as Abu Sayyaf, we resolved to push stakeholders to join in formulating the Philippine conflicts crisis map.

This is modeled after the U.S.-Euro academe's successful crime and peace keeping mapping efforts that had led to wide acceptance and invited broad-based support from as many sectors and as many countries as possible.

After all, the value of life is such that people and institutions, states and combines will pay as high a price as possible for the safety of both individuals and enclaves of people.

Changed Parameters

One year later, the entire universe for the crisis mapping project had changed. It cannot be called a drastic change since the new directions fell within range of long-held advocacies and persistent efforts. We had began such efforts by provoking officials at the Department of National Defense to modernize.

Among the sources for concepts and ideas of our papers given to the department was an executive formerly engaged as part of a service provider group at a Saudi Arabia military base. The Saudi military and government, thanks to their foreign high-tech service providers in the late 80s were already advanced in the use of GIS, the digitization of all documents, exploiting satellite information among many things.

With various other inputs from visiting colleagues, the advocacy for a fully functional satellite research, GPS and GIS-ready system was pushed at defense department, the National Security Council and at the Department of Transportation and Communications through the suggestion of the administrative officer of the defense secretary. More > >

Environment Hazards. Crisis Mapping. Forecasting.

Pages

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Philippines update. Saving Lives: Who needs FWEMSAR?

No comments:

Post a Comment