Sunday 08 / December / 2024
Muscat: The National Search and Rescue Team of the Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority (CDAA) has returned to the Sultanate of Oman after strenuous and humanitarian efforts made by the team over a period of 15 days spent in search and rescue operations and assistance to those affected by the earthquake that struck the Republic of Türkiye on 06 February, 2023.
Since the authorities in both the Republic of Syria and the Republic of Türkiye announced that they were exposed to a devastating earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale, the CDAA, represented by the National Search and Rescue Team, in coordination with the competent authorities, began registering the team on the website of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) to help and support the affected people.
Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed bin Hamoud Al-Mahmoudi, the Team Leader, said: “The Team carried out several search and rescue operations, provided emergency medical care to the injured, and found survivors from under the rubble in several locations in the Turkish province of Hatay, despite the challenges they faced, such as aftershocks from time to time, traffic congestion, and bitter cold.”
“The team has specialised personnel including search and rescue teams, building engineers; engineers and specialists in operations and communications; doctors and auxiliary medical personnel. It also has equipment and mechanisms for searching for survivors, such as search cameras and sound sensors to survey the collapsed sites to sense the vital signs of the living people who are under the rubble. It also has the equipment used in the work of international search and rescue teams in accordance with the requirements of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG),” the Lieutenant Colonel said.
Richard Baldoni of the Italian Search and Rescue Team praised the efforts made by Oman's National Search and Rescue Team, which resulted in recovering the victims alive.
On the other hand, Nabil Al-Shamli of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) said: “Oman's Team is one of the best teams with which we dealt as an advisory body in terms of organisation, coordination and high professionalism, responding to a number of communications in record time, culminating in the rescue of many people from the rubble and several victims were recovered.”
Upon their return to Oman, the National Team was received by Major General Abdullah bin Ali Al Harthy, Assistant Inspector General of Police and Customs for Operations, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Authority, along with Brigadier General Director of the Authority, Brigadier General Staff Pilot, Commander of Musana Air Base, HE Mohammed Hakimoglu, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the Sultanate of Oman, and a number of senior officers of the Authority.
It is worth noting that the National Search and Rescue Team is one of the accredited international teams. It received the international badge in 2012 from the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) of the United Nations. It participated in many incidents at the internal and external levels, including participation in search and rescue operations and the distribution of aid to the victims of the earthquake that struck the Republic of Nepal in 2015.
